111! 1 ■ 



m 



THE 



i 






STORY OF CIVILIZATION 










W. S. SMITH 



ill 



/ 




Class ttMO=t 

Book -S^Z L f - 

Copyright W 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The 

Story of Civilization 



&>- By 

W. S. Smith, C. K. 

Author of "Capital and Labor" 



Boston 

The Roxburgh Publishing Company 

Incorporated 



**&" 



Copyrighted, 1912 
By IV. S. Smith, C. E. 



©CU327769 



DEDICATION. 

In appreciation <>/ the many plea ant hours 
we spent together! roaming over tht kill* of the 
Bethlehem* and over South Mountain, while 
fellow stua\ nte at / thigh I / 

thts volume h> ih< memory of my eoUegt 
The laU David M. Barry. 



PREFACE. 

Modern inventions have advanced the civili- 
zation of the world. Natural laws that in 
previous times did not affect the peopll 
affecting them to-day. To dlSCUBB then natu- 
ral laws is the object of this 1 k. 

The Author. 



The Story of Civilization 



CHAPTEB I 

•nil. i.< ONOMK UAWH i ii \ i- -i m lO 

Mankind 

\B the world has advanced in what we call 

civilisation, from time to time men have ad- 
vanced ideas and theories as to the origin of 
mankind. Without discussing U rioilfl 

theories none other seems to fill the conditions 
as completely as that advanced by Moses 
about four thousand yea: rded 

in the King James translation i^i the Bible in 
Genesis (1-27). 

"So God created man in His own image, in 
the image of God created He him; male and 
female created lie them." 
7 



8 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

At the time of this writing there seems to 
have been recognized but one stage of civiliza- 
tion. Yet for many centuries the world has 
recognized three stages of mankind; the sav- 
age; the semi-civilized man; and the civilized 
man. We can readily see wide difference in 
in the ideas of the savage and civilized man. 

The question now arises, was mankind 
created in either of the three stages before 
mentioned or has this change been brought 
about by the working out of natural laws over 
which mankind has no control? Throughout 
this work the term science will be used to 
designate those conditions over which man- 
kind has no control. 

In the science of Mathematics we find three 
laws that seem to govern the subject. Namely, 
building up; the balance; and tearing down. 
In the science of Political Economy we find 
three similar laws but acting in the reverse 
order to those already named; namely, the 
law of Decreasing Returns; the law of Con- 
stant Returns, and the law of Increasing Re- 



THE STOKY OF f'lVILIZA 1 [) 

turns. It ia tin- purpose of thi.> :iit if 1 

discum these three economic lawi and see how 
they affect mankind in general 

When mankind \v:i> created and came upon 
the earth, we find him living very much a- the 
lower animals live t«»-day; namely, from Blich 
stores as nature provided f<»r him. As a 

type of savage, we will use the North American 
Indian as the Buropeani found him when 

they came to this continent. The : 

cription the writer has found to fit the [ndi 
mode of living is a quotation from the ; 

Whit tier's Barefoot Boy. 

"Health that mocks the doctor's rul<<. 
Knowledge never learned at schools, 

Of the wild bees morning cb 

Of the wild flowers time and pi 

Flight of fowl and habitude 

Of the tenants of the wood; 
How the tortoise bean his shell, 
How the woodchuck digs his cell. 
And the ground mole sinks his well; 



10 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

How the robin feeds her young, 
How the oriole's nest is hung. 

Where the whitest lillies blow, 
Where the freshest berries grow, 
Where the ground nut trails its vine, 
Where the wood grape clusters shine; 
Of the black wasps cunning way, 
Mason of his walls of clay, 
And the architectual plans 
Of gray hornet artisans. 
For, eschewing books and tasks, 
Nature answers all he asks. 

I was rich in flowers and trees, 
Humming birds and honey bees. 
For my sport the squirrel played, 
Plied the snouted mole his spade; 
For my taste the blackberry cone 
Purpled over hedge and stone. 
Laughed the brook for my delight, 
Through the day and through the night. 
Whispering at the garden wall, 



I ill. BT0R1 OF i I VI I 1 I 

Talked with me from fall to fall; 
Mine the sand rimmed pickerel pond, 
Mine the walnut slopes beyond, 
Mine on bending orchard trees, 
Apples of Besperid 

This description B OOm s to fit the mode of 

living of the savage wherever we find him. 

He kn<>\. nt lv 

he knows no theft. The bad no | 

home but followed the fish 01 same whei 

lead, and made his bed whei p over- 

took him. 

For various reasons which we nerd not 

(Wsru^, nature 1 forced the >;r. abandon 

his wandering lite and to tame, gentler or 
domesticate the wild fruits, flowers and animals 

that he found in nature. This brings mankind 
to the second law of political economy that 
of constant returns. In this stl i\ ili- 

tation, we find mankind living in tenl 

compelled to follow his flocks and herds and 

existing from their products. 



12 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

This condition of affairs has existed for 
many centuries and still exists in some parts 
of the world. In Genesis (13-7-13) we read: 
"And there was a strife between the herdsmen 
of Abraham's cattle and the herdsmen of 
Lot's cattle; And Abraham said unto Lot, let 
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me 
and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy 
herdsmen; for we be brethren. Is not the 
whole land before thee. Separate thyself, I pray 
thee, from me, if thou wilt take the left hand, 
then I will go to the right; or if thou depart 
to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And 
Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain 
of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere 
and pitched his tents toward Sodom." 

Again we find nature forcing mankind to 
cease his mode of living in tents and to begin 
cultivating and planting the things that 
nature produced. This brings mankind to the 
third Economic Law that of increasing returns. 
Probably from actual experience, he found that 
by placing a few seeds in the ground at certain 



Tin. BTOBT 01 ' jvimza i IS 

seasons of the year, at other seasons of 
these t' ild yield him d 

- of a similar kind in return. The I 
land could be planted eaeh year with the a 
kind of seed <»r the seed could be vari 
a vairety of - crops. As man was now 

no longer compelled by nature to wander in 
h of food In- was now ready to establi.-h 
permanent homes. 'This leads us up to the 
complex state <>f attain that we find 

Bach economic lav. | ain 

conditions. The savage vras a child «»f nature 

and was Compelled to study ft 

laws. To him might was right. Apparently 

he had no family ties and wai compelled to 

place no restrictions on hi- 

In the second stage we find mankind not 
only following nature's laws but beginning to 

place restrictions upon himself. Abraham 

said unto Lot, "Let there be no strife between 

us for we be brethren." thus showing the be- 
ginning of moral law. 

In the third stage, in order to be able to 



14 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

protect his home and possessions it became 
necessary for mankind to establish statute 
law. When nature gave him a permanent 
home she likewise compelled him to obey 
natural law, moral law and statute law. 
These are the three forms of laws that govern 
the civilized world to-day. 

When the Economic law of Increasing Re- 
turns began to govern mankind, in addition 
to many natural laws that only affects certain 
products, nature compelled mankind to recog- 
nize two general laws, that of time and judg- 
ment. To people who have not studied 
Astronomy it might be interesting to know 
how time is measured. Until about 50 b. c. 
the world seems to have had no definite 
method of measuring time. Previous to this 
period, time seems to have been recorded 
something after the following method: Say 
for example in the tenth year of the reign of 
some king and the fourth month. This gives 
us no idea as to what season of the year any 
recorded event occurred. 



I HI. STORY 01 ( ■IYIMZATIuV 1 5 

About 60 b. c. the basia of our pa Leo- 

dar was formed by Julitu ( teear. Be conceived 
the idea of naming the months and dividing 
i be year into twelve months, having alternately 
thirty and thirty-one days. Be named the 
month July after himself. II« calculated thai 
the earth moved around the ran in exactly 
365] days. Ordinarily the year contained 

but 365 days and February contained but 

twenty-nine days. Every fourth year one 

day was added to the calendar giving February 

thirty da] 

This calendar was changed by C:rsar Au. 

bus. Apparently the only chanj istus 

made was to take one day from February and 
add it to AugUSi and to name the month of 
August after himself. This was the calendar 

of all christian nations until 1752 \. i>. 

Astronomers have found that it takes the 

earth exactly 365 days, •"> hours. 48 minutes 

and 46 seconds to travel around the sun. 

This observation is taken on the eighteenth 

day of March when the ecliptic crosses the 



16 THE STORY OP CIVILIZATION 

equator. Thus the year used by Caesar was 
too long by 11 minutes and 14 seconds. 

By the year 1582 the calendar had fallen 
back about 10 days. This fact was noted by 
Pope Gregory and with the aid of astronomers 
he formulated the calendar that is used by all 
christian nations to-day. The rule he gave 
is this: "Every year not divisible by four shall 
contain 365 days. Every year divisible by 
four shall contain 366 days and every century 
year divisible by 400 shall contain 366 days." 

This rule was adopted by the English Parlia- 
ment in 1751 by which they dropped twelve 
days from the month of September and placed 
the beginning of the year at the first day of 
January. 

Without going into a lot of tedious arith- 
metic our present method of measuring time 
is too long by about 26 seconds annually and 
will be in error of about one day in about 
3200 years. This seems to be as nearly correct 
as is necessary for business purposes and does 
not seem to be causing any difficulty. 



I HI. 9TOBT Of I IVILIZATION 17 

Nature has her own methods of dflOOt 

tune. As ;i boy on the farm I remember many 
natural Bigus that were used when oertain 
kinds of work was to be undertaken. The 
older generation seemed t<> think that these 
signs would have a permanent effect upon the 

work accomplished at those particular til 

Even the Indian bad h for denoting 

time. Tradition telle Ufl that when the white 

men were clearing the Connecticut Valley the 

Indians came and begged thai "lie oak be 

allowed to stand BO that the Indians might 

know when to plant their corn. The request 

of the Indian- was granted and the tree t hat 

was left standing afterward became the fan 
( lharter ( )ak of Colonial history. Many fan 
to-day recognise the old Indian sign for plant- 
ing their corn. The Sign ifl this: the tin. 
plant corn is when the leaves on the oak are 

like squirrel's ears. 

Since our calendar varies BO slightly from 

year to year, the present generation have 

dropped many of the siiins used by our fore- 



18 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

fathers and depend almost entirely upon the 
calendar for denoting time. 

However, the element of time still enters 
into many classes of work that are effected 
by the Economic law of increasing returns. 
We find it entering into the planting and 
harvesting of all agricultural crops, in cooking 
and steel making. In lines of work of the 
character mentioned, certain things must be 
done at certain times or we get no results. 

If we study nature carefully, we find that 
her laws are not all the same. Many fallacies 
have arisen from rules being based upon only 
a part of a natural law. These conditions 
will be taken up in a subsequent chapter. 






CHAPTER II 



ONLY A BOLT 



Dame Nature, in the days of old, 

Hoarded her stores like a miser*! gold. 
Though she covered them deep with rock and 

earth, 
Men dig them nut, for they know their worth. 

Through furnace and mill the treasun 

To the marts of the earth the prodl* 

Some in bridges, rails and buildingfl staid. 

Hut one piece was a bolt; that was all it made. 

Strife rent the shop where the bolt was n. 
Workmen dissatisfied about their pay; 
Willing, lull knowing, not nature's laws. 
The work was defective; the boll had flaws. 
19 



20 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

A rail road train is a thing of art, 
With a pulse and a throb like a human heart. 
With the endless noise and clatter and din 
Defective bolts sometimes get in. 

It was midnight. On a mountain side 
A train rushed on with its human tide. 
A roar like thunder! a crash! a scream! 
Then all was silent; death reigned supreme. 

Somebody's mother lies cold in death, 
Somebody else of a friend bereft. 
The flaw was too weak to stand the strain, 
It was only a bolt that wrecked the train. 



I II IPTEB ill 

•i m. BMPL01 i i: kND PHI i MFL01 ID 

AiM-AiMM i,v when :m :ill-v, 

man dominion over all other forma of animal 
life, 1 1 < ^ placed certain rastricUoiii upon man. 

Nature provides hair to rover the I" 

wool to cover the sheep; :m<l feat! over 

(he hint. This is all the covering th6M animals 
require, even in the winter weather. 

Man requires artificial clothing, even in the 
mildest climate. In the way of food, while 
man has a greater variety than the lower 
animals, it also requires vastly more effort 

to prepare this food. Except certain fruits, 
berries and some vegetables, all the food re- 
quired by man needs careful preparation. 
In all other forms o\ animal life, the animal 
21 



22 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

consumes the food as nature provides it. In 
the way of shelter, civilized man erects much 
more substantial dwellings than any of the 
lower animals. 

Nature failed to provide man with a covering 
that would protect him from the weather. 
She also failed to provide him with digestive 
organs strong enough to digest his food without 
first perparing the food. These two weak- 
nesses compel man to erect substantial build- 
ings for shelter. Apparently intellectually, 
man is the strongest of the animal kingdom, 
physically he is the weakest. This weakness 
compels man to provide his own needs and 
makes man the working animal. 

In the lowest forms of savage, we find only 
a limited capacity for work and very little 
ability or desire to exchange work. As we 
ascend in the scale of civilization, the tasks 
required of any one person become so numer- 
ous that the civilized man immediately begins 
to specialize. That is one person devotes all 
his time to a particular kind of work and pro- 



thf; STOBY 01 ' r\ iuz\ 23 

duces more than his i . hile 

along other Lines he u ed that 

he doefl not attempt to produce. 

Probably from the earli 
men were compelled to work \\\<- 

division of work hae always been ■ difficult 
problem. In the earlier dayi it undoubtedly 
imed the condition of a partnership. That 
everal people hunted or fished together 
and divided the product. As the people 
advanced in intelligence and formed them- 
selves into governments, the governr 
created certain pi mped metal that 

we know as money. Gradually all lai »< »r ha> 
come <o be divided on a money or cash I 
This condition gives rise to the employer and 
the employed. 

Undoubtedly the oldest form <<\ employer 

and employed is that in which mankind em- 
ploys mankind. This bl out the con- 
dition of the master and tin 1 servant. This 
condition has existed for many cental 

In the earlier (.lays the -eivant rarely received 



24 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

his compensation in money. In the days of 
Feudalism in Europe and slavery in America, 
the servants were held as part of the estate and 
were entitled to certain rights and privileges. 
Under the conditions of Feudalism and slavery 
the servants were not always allowed to go 
and come as they pleased, neither were they 
turned away if sickness or old age overtook 
them. In both the conditions of Feudalism 
and slavery the master and the servant were 
not equal before the law. That is, the law 
allowed the master certain privileges that 
were denied to the servant. With the breaking 
down of Feudalism and the abolition of 
slavery, the servant received his compensation 
in the coin of the realm and the law recognized 
neither master nor servant. 

This placed the employment of labor into 
the form of a contract and the law holds both 
master and servant responsible for the ful- 
filling of their respective part of the contract. 
After the contract is fulfilled the law recognizes 
no claim for either master or servant. Un- 



THE BT0B1 01 CIS n.i/ I i EO» 

doubtedly the amplest form <>t and 

servant it that in which on empl 

another person. Very often, in this form of 
ice, the master and servant work side by 
side. Quest i i methods to be empl 

in doing certain < work; tu hich 

certain classes of work shall be done; houi 
labor, etc., are g» oerally amicably settled. 
Generally speaking, where one person i- em- 
ployed by another person both master :m<l 
.servant .-ire lodged in tin- same house and 
board at t h«* same table. In time, both 
master and servant establish n ] 
If the servant is unfaithful, it - known 

and the servant will have difficulty in | 
curing good places of employment. On the 
other hand, if the master habitually ill-t- 
his servants, he will have difficulty in pro- 
curing good servants. In this form o! 
the servant generally lives and ie sited 

as a part of the master'fl family. In this 

relation of master and servant, it was not 
necessary to make a close classification 



26 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

work, as the servant oftentimes took the place 
of the master. On the other hand, such 
instructions as the servant needed could always 
be furnished by the master. Allowing that 
the instruction given the servant by the master 
may not always have been of the best, yet if 
the servant did his work to the satisfaction 
of the master, no other person had the author- 
ity to criticize it. 

After man succeeded in harnessing the 
forces of nature, many articles that were 
formerly manufactured in the home or small 
shop were taken into the large shop. This 
brought about the corporation and a different 
relation between master and servant. The 
corporation now becomes the employer and 
receives all the profits from the business and 
likewise assumes all the losses, yet the cor- 
poration itself is artificial, hence, it must be 
managed and controlled by man. In order to 
simplify the working of the corporation, all 
the employees work on salaries, thus bringing 
them all into the class of servants. This 



nil. 9T0BT Of fiviLiz.M 27 

brings aboul a rather oomph 
Borne set vanl must take the p the 

master; that is, they niust manage the buaii 
make contracts and collect bflla. < mi 
ants musl direct the effort* and nl ■ y 
men! upon the work of their fell 

If men, and especially young men. 
allowed to develop mentally, they will not all 
develop the same idea 
proven thai many of the ablest men and 
women the world ever Ban started life with the 
severest handicaps, whil of the worst 

failures eame from the best QOmi B. I lie 

corporation must draw its workii from 

all classes of society, hence sooner 01 later 
there will be persons employed with widely 
different ideas, 

lake all other organization.-, corporations 

are a growth. They may not alwaya have the 
best equipment or the most up-to-date ma- 
chinery. Likewise, for various reasons, they 

may not always use the most Scientific methods 

in organization. To overcome these defecta 



28 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

and have the men work in unison, do we not 
need instructors for corporations? As these 
instructors are for the benefit of the employees, 
is it not just that the employees should pay the 
greater part of these instructor's salaries? 
With the instructor will come classification 
of labor and with classification of labor will 
come promotion. If the corporations will 
bring about a condition where the workmen 
can secure proper instruction by paying a 
reasonable sum for it and allow the workmen 
to be promoted as soon as they prove them- 
selves capable of advancement, the remainder 
of that problem can be left with the workmen. 
The next problem that we meet in the con- 
dition of servants dealing with servants, is 
protection. The instructor and classification 
of labor will protect the workman from the 
attacks of his fellow workmen, but he still 
needs protection from the attacks of the man 
higher up. In the classification of labor as 
it exists to-day and must exist in the future, 
the individual workman is only given a certain 



'i HI STORT 01 ' ivii.iz \ i I 

to perforin. lie may DOl and probably 

doc- QOf n«-<< 1 t<> know where hi- particular 

pari fits into the complete.! Bcheme. Although 
if tlie workman wishes to become thoroughly 

familiar with his ta-k. should he QOt have the 

privilege to obtain such information a- he 

may desire with respect t«» his particular | 
The condition t<»o often 

body <>f men are working hard, yet 1 i 1 . \ do QOt 

accomplish a- much as they Bhould aocompliah. 

The man higher up ascertains this fact either 

from increased cost or decreased return- ami 

wreaks his vengeance on the workmen. Too 

often this method simply demoralizes hi- 

working force and make- things worse instead 

of better. 

Another case where workmen need protection 

was brought to Light by the failure of the 

Enterprise Bank. A certain employe wilfully 
manipulated an adding machine so that it 
gave incorrect readings. This was done to 

deceive a V . S. hank examiner and to protect 
the man higher up. After the failure of the 



30 THE STORY OP CIVILIZATION 

bank, the government became aware of the 
trickery of this employe, and sent him to the 
penitentiary. 

There seems to be two sides to the un- 
faithfulness of this employe. On the one 
hand was deception, and no one can blame an 
outraged government for punishing this un- 
faithful employe. On the other hand was a 
wife and family. The only means this em- 
ploye had to provide for their needs was the 
salary that he earned at the bank. His fellow 
servant, the man higher up, had become in- 
volved in some questionable transactions. 
It devolved upon this employe to do one of 
two things; either to protect the man higher 
up by using questionable business methods, 
or to refuse to protect the man higher up, 
and then let the man higher up discharge him. 

There is only one kind of discharge that 
can ever be looked upon with honor; that is a 
discharge from the army. A discharged work- 
man is always in disgrace with his fellow 
workmen and looked upon with suspicion by 



Nil, BTOBT Of I ivii.iza i : 8 I 

employers of labor. Under existing condif i 
for a workman to lose hit position through i 
discharge, ii almost equivalent to a death 
sentence. Educated men may survive through 
their ability to take up new lines <>f work; 
for an uneducated person, there > be 

little hope. 

Workmen must do their work w ill ii 
and conscientiously; if they refuse to work 
according t<> instructions given, it immediately 
up a Btate of rebellion; the only way to 
handle s rebellion Is to crush it, The loss of a 
position is not a serious condition; the lot 

a reputation is a serious condition. 

Since the entire woikii:. ^ra- 

tion are servants, the law must give some 
servants powers that it denies t<» other servants. 

This always sets up a Btate o\ inequality in 
the working o\ any corporation. A> we stand 
tO-day, one sot of servants can meet behind 
locked doors, decide to discharge certain of 

their fellow servants, notify another servant 

of their actions, and that servant has power 



32 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

to discharge men that he would not know if 
he met them on the street and of whose ability 
and work he knows absolutely nothing. 
This condition exists not in one corporation, 
but in every corporation. 

The method has been carried to such an 
extent that young men are no longer willing 
to try and learn a business as our forefathers 
learned trades and intelligent men hesitate 
whether it is safe to equip themselves for 
certain lines of work and run the risk of being 
cut down by an unseen hand. 

While a blow from an unseen hand is always 
a serious affair for an individual, it may not 
always be so serious for the community in 
general. When we take into consideration 
the demoralizing effect that this inequality 
produces and the intimidating effect that it 
has upon the mass of the working people, 
then it becomes a serious problem not only 
for any particular community, but for the 
entire civilized world. Many of the wretched 
conditions among the working people can be 






'i Fir. BTOB1 Of ' iviuzAi I 

traced to this inequality thai the law ii com- 
pelled to recognii 

If the law takes away any of the pom 
that it now confers upon certain classo 
servants, the work of th< 
useless, since the law dan- do! tal 
any powers, it can create ;i new power in t h<» 
form of a legal method of discha thai 

the working man baa i right to !><■ heard. 
'I his will give confidence to the entire working 
community, as the workmen will al I 
know that the law is not all against them. 
It will likewise save many a reputation and 

make it worth while fur any person to try ami 

build a reputation. 

The next Btep in the problem of the i 
ployer and the employed is when- the govern- 
ment is the employer, mankind the employed. 

Action and reaction are equal and opposite 

in direction, bo that if a government u 
protect the* people, the people in turn must 
support the government. 
Few people realise that it" a blacksmith be- 



34 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

gins to shoe a horse, charging one-tenth of a 
cent for driving the first nail, and doubling 
his last charge for each nail driven, before he 
gets the horse two-thirds shod, he will own the 
horse. Why would not a similar law be 
effective for petty lawlessness? 

If a person violates the law, let a light fine 
or short term of imprisonment be imposed. 
If that person again violates the law, double 
the fine or term of imprisonment. In the 
same manner, continue to double the fine or 
imprisonment each time it is imposed. It 
would not be a very long time until the people 
would be law abiding. 

An express messenger told us that he handled 
a large sum of money on a certain day. A 
package containing one hundred thousand 
dollars looked good to him, and he took it. 
He was sent to the penitentiary for three 
years. If he could hide his one hundred thou- 
sand dollar package for three years, he would 
be earning a little over thirty-three thousand 
dollars per year. The salary of that express 



1 m. BT0B1 Of I iviuzv i I 

r was about Beveo bundled dollars 
per year. This shows the fearful temptat 
to which those people are subjected. 

Not dwelling upon the inadequate talai 
received by those people, could the tempta- 
tion not be removed by a law similar to the 
following:- Any person who steals must ■ 
time in jail at the rate of one dollar per day 
for .-ill he steals. Varyir 

re, yel they can be made severe if n< 

The tasl > i < • i > in the problem of empfc 
:uk1 employed is where nature is tin- em- 
ployer, mankind the employed. Dame Nature 
insists that her laws must fcx It" the 

last detail. 

No sea captain ifl more autocratic in dis- 
cipline. If we obey nature's laws, no philan- 
thropist is more generous, if we disobey her 
laws, no miser is more niggardly. As natu 
laws are from everlasting to everlasting, with 
never a moment's relaxation, those pen 

who are employed in her army have a continu- 
ous task. 



36 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

Apparently the principal employes on na- 
ture's pay roll are what we know as professional 
people. Except professional people, few per- 
sons realize the requirements that Dame 
Nature places upon her servants. Never for 
an instant are her laws relaxed, and so vigor- 
ously does she enforce her laws, that mankind 
must obey them, and our actions are controlled 
accordingly. It seems to depend as to which 
economic law governs the transactions as 
to what methods need to be employed to meet 
nature's demands. In the economic law of 
decreasing returns, everything tends toward 
secrecy. The hunter or the fisherman must 
proceed stealthily, and must keep his methods 
unknown. With secrecy comes dishonesty. 
He may set traps for game, nets for fish, and 
if he is a successful hunter or fisherman, he 
must deceive his fellow-man as to where and 
how he made his capture. 

The economic law of constant returns seems 
to develop the element of treachery. There 
seems to be little choice as to the methods 



I hi. STOB1 "i en \\.\v.\ i 

used, As an example, we m a lamb 

to uh with a handful of salt and then cut 

(hro.it, with B knife. 

The economic lavs of mcreasimj iviin i 
tO develop ImneMy. illy the I ' 

fciona must be conducted on :i scale bo I 

that, they cannot be Old. A farmer in.iy be 
deceptive in many thin 

honest in the matter of planting and harvesting 
his crops, or nature will give him no ret 
for his labor. 

Apparently for the last quartet of a< i 
the efficiency of the working man h 
decreasing. It- seenu to be decreasing to-day, 
and probably will continue to d< until 

present employment methods are chai 

Since our coiulitions make it I > for 

large bodies of men to work together, a Little 
intelligent instruction and some statute law 

by which the law would allow the working 

people to be heard, would undoubtedly do 
much to alleviate the wont conditions that 

we find to-day. 



38 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

The methods outlined by the writer will 
fill all requirements under either of the three 
economic laws or any combination of them 
The working men need instruction to prevent 
them from working against each other. They 
need protection from the vicious attacks of 
the man higher up. With a classification 
of labor, young men can pass through the 
shops, learning the various branches of the 
business in much the same manner as the old 
time apprentice. This will give the cor- 
porations a constant class of young men and 
very few old men. 

If the young men can pass through the 
various branches of any business in a few 
years, many of them will then be ready to 
take up other lines of work, as mechanical 
training can be used in any vocation of life. 
Apparently, the future need have no terrors 
for us if we once get a population where the 
men are well trained in mechanical principles. 

Thus with her laws, nature seems to stamp 
the character of mankind. In the law of 



THE BTOR1 "i i r, n.i/ i [ON 

decreasing return-, oatui no limit as 

to how much mankind shall charge foi 

products, nor when lie shall US6 tlxin. Bllt 

when mankind once 

they are gone and gone forever. Thk 

manifests itself most prominently in mil 

In mining, it matters nut what the C0S1 may be 
so long as we soil the product for more than tin- 
cost, of Doming. It mat ten not how long if 
takes to exhaust the deposit, nor how soon 
it is exhausted; in either case, when the dej 
is exhausted, there can be no more mining. 
This law stamps itself upon the chai 
the people who follow it: strong, fearless, 

muscular men. 

The law of increasing return- is different. 

Here, nature sots limits. We may set our 

prices BO high that Nature will ghre us li- 
tmus for our labor. This is shown in agri- 
culture, where some lands will not produce 
enough to pay for tilling them. It ia likewise 

shown in manufacturing articles that their 
value depends on the skill and amount of 



40 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

labor required to produce the article. This 
condition is brought home to us in our every- 
day lives, where articles that require a small 
amount of raw material and a large amount 
of skilled labor can be brought into our markets 
that are protected by a tariff, and sold cheaper 
than we can manufacture them. 

In the economic law of increasing returns, 
it seems to be a question of ratio, and not a 
question of money. This law likewise stamps 
its character upon mankind. The law of 
decreasing returns develops the physical man; 
the law of increasing returns develops the 
intellectual man. It likewise causes a dif- 
ference in our mode of employment. The 
law of decreasing returns requires great 
muscular activity; while the law of increasing 
returns requires great mental activity and little 
apparent muscular energy. Watt was chided 
by his grandmother because he sat and watched 
the steam raise the lid of the kettle when she 
thought he should be working, yet nature 
gave him the principles of the steam engine. 



I ill. 9T0B1 "i • i\ li.l/ \ i : H 

If we arc to judge from the nation! I 

have passed Into history, n unk law 

<»f increasing return* has always develop* 
brave, fearless people. U e the history 

of the nations that exist d before the Ki 
Baxon race became a world poi timl 

i bey were bi i leas and were only 

quered by i race of people u li< » used superior 
mechanical appliances in com 
economic law of increasu \\ e find 

this trail in the In< P ru; the \ 

Mexico; the Five Nations of [ndians, wl 

home was in what is ii" V w \ 

on the American continent; and we find the 
same traits existing in the Moors and the 
Romans on the European continent. These 
nations, while they practically existed at the 
same time, were distinctly isolated and knew 
nothing ^i each other; yet they all developed 
the same general traits ni character. The 
same traits are again appearing to-daj 
trait of character thai comes from within out- 
ward. 



42 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

Apparently, when we can thoroughly master 
the law of increasing returns, the people of 
this earth will never work any more, but will 
play. The game will be a strenuous one in 
which each player must not only do his part, 
but will be punished severely if he does not 
do it. When that time comes, apparently the 
young men and women will no longer be 
trained, but will be allowed to grow as an 
all-wise Creator evidently intended they should 
grow. 



( ii aim i.i; i\ 

mi. ivi I M - i l\(. Q] 0M1 i RI< \i. LAWS 

Willi. i. making Borne in on, the 

writer found Borne Geometrical Laws that 
Interesting. Being a graduate of one of <>ur 
large technical schools, I have made an 
((Muled study of mathematics. I have never 
seen anything like them in print. As they 
seem Interesting to me, perhaps they might 
be interesting to oth< 

Take the plane surfaci 9. B( ginning with a 
point and expanding symmetrically over a 
surface gives the circle. The an a of this 
figure is determined with one dimension, the 
radius or its double tlu> diam< ther 

with a constant. 

Pass two lines through a point and COm- 
43 



44 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

plete the figure with parallel lines gives the 
square or parallelogram. The area of this 
figure is determined by using two dimensions, 
the length and the breadth. 

Connecting two adjacent sides of the square 
or parallelogram with a third side gives the 
triangle. The area of this figure is determined 
by using the base and half the altitude. The 
altitude of a triangle is determined by using a 
portion of the base and one leg of the triangle. 
Calling the portion of the base M, the leg of the 
triangle R, and the hypotenuse of the triangle 
A, gives the equation A 2 = R 2 + M 2 , thus using 
three dimensions. 

The triangle reduces to a polygon. The 
area of this figure is determined by using the 
perimeter and one-half the radius of the 
inscribed circle. Using the method explained 
for determining the altitude of the triangle, 
to determine the radius of the inscribed circle, 
and combining these three dimensions with 
the perimeter, gives the four dimensions 
necessary to calculate the area of the polygon. 



tin. BTOST Of ( ivn.iz \ i ' 16 

Likewise the polygon can be developed 
directly fmin tie- square or parallelogram. 
Increasing the Dumber of sides of the porj 
indefinitely, the limil is the circumference 
circle Deo the radhifl and perimeter 

of the circle to its limit gives a point, thus 
completing the cycle. 

Take the solids. Take i point and expand 
symmetrically in every directkn the 

sphere. The volume of this solid i- deter- 
mined by one dimension, the radius or its 
double the diameto ' together with s const 

Truncating the Bphere gives the cylinder. 

The Volume Of this solid is determined 1'V t\\<» 
dimensions, the nulius. or its double the di:t- 

meter, ami the altitude together with a con- 
stant. 

Pass four parallel intersecting planes through 

the cylinder gives the cube Or parallelopiped. 

The volume of this solid is determined by 

using the three dimensions, length, breadth 
and altitude. 
Connecting two adjacent planes of the 



46 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

cube or parallelopiped with a third plane 
gives the prism. The volume of this solid is 
the area of the base times the altitude. The 
base being a triangle requires three dimen- 
sions to determine its area. Combining these 
three dimensions with the altitude gives four 
dimensions. 

The prism can be reduced to a triangular 
pyramid. The volume of this solid is the area 
of the base times one-third the altitude. 
This solid has six dimensions. Both the 
altitude of the pyramid and the altitude of the 
base forming separate triangles. The tri- 
angular pyramid reduces to a pyramid with a 
polyagonal base. But, this in turn has but six 
dimensions as the radius of the inscribed circle 
occurs in the polygon and again in the altitude. 

The cube or parallelopiped can be changed 
directly into a pyramid with a rectangular 
base. To determine the volume of this solid 
requires five dimensions. Two dimensions 
to determine the area of the base and three 
dimensions to determine the altitude. 



1 in. STOBT Of ( iyimz\ i I 17 

A pyramid with :i rectangular l>ase char 
readily into a pyramid with a poryagonal 
base. Thii .-<>lid has six dimensions aa 
previously explained. A pyramid with a 
polyagonal base reduces readily to a & 
a solid w ith three dimensions; the radiu 
diameter <>f the base, the altitude and the 
slant height. 

By truncating the cone, a cylinder can be 
produced. The volume of thn -"lid i- found 
by using two dimensions ss previously 

plained. The cylinder reduces to a Bphi 

a solid of hut one dimension. Reducing the 

radius and surface of a sphere to its limit 

gives a point, thus completing the cycle. 

If followed through the triangle, the law 

shows the plane figures increasing continually 
from a figure, the circle, having but one 
dimension to a figure, the polygon, having 
four dimensions. If the law is followed 
directly through tin 4 square or parallelogram 
to the polygon, no figure i> produced having 
three dimensions. 



48 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

In the solids, the law follows continuously 
to the prism, a solid having four dimensions. 
If the prism is changed to a triangular pyramid, 
no solid is produced having five dimensions 
but two solids are produced having six di- 
mensions. If the cube or parallelopiped is 
reduced to a pyramid, no solid is produced 
having four dimensions. The law passes 
from a solid of three dimensions to a solid of 
five dimensions and then to a solid of six di- 
mensions. After reaching a solid of six di- 
mensions, the polyagonal pyramids, the law 
drops directly to a solid, the cone, having but 
three dimensions. It then reduces directly 
through the cylinder, a solid with two di- 
mensions, to a sphere, a solid with but one 
dimension. 

Thus with, the aid of mathematics, we see 
that the laws of nature do not develop uni- 
formly in all cases. Call each dimension a 
function. In both the plane and solid figures, 
the law branches and reaches the same limit 
by two routes. After passing its limit, both 



'i m; 9TOBT Of I iviliz \ ] : 49 

the plane and aolid figures bee three functi 
While we may not be able to locate jui 
the change take- p] some point the 

pol) 'j-iii i o be a polygon and 

a circle In the aame manner the pyramid 
i be a pyramid and become* a cone. 
Whenever that chanj place, tt. 

e to exist in their formi Might 

there not be other laws in nature 
in a similar manner, that produce the 
called freaks <>f natun 



CHAPTER V 

THE TURNING OF THE TIDE 

As far back as history records, mankind 
has noted the ebb and flow of the tide. Always 
powerful; always mysterious; it is as much a 
mystery to-day as it was to the people who 
lived thousands of years ago. 

Shakespeare says there are tides in the 
affairs of men; if so, by carefully applying 
scientific reasoning, we should be able to dis- 
cover some of them. As mankind cannot 
improve upon nature, let us first search in the 
vegetable kingdom for this change. 

In some way unknown to us, life is wrapped 

up in a grain of wheat, corn, barley and many 

other forms of the vegetable kingdom. It is 

known to scientists that not all of the kernel 

50 



Tin; BTORT Of I ivii.iz at IOW .",1 

of wheat or oorn consists of tl. thai 

produces life. A very large p< of 

the kernel is Bimply a storehouse of food for 
the young plant. While we cannot ti 
each step of the process, we can readlrj 
that in its first the plant lives from 

such Btorec as nature bag provided for it. 
In the second stage, the plant 
into the soil and draws the food i y f«»r 

its development. In the third the 

plant draws Buch elements as produce food 
and life in the seeds or kernels that the plant 

products. 

The aame natural law seems to hold in the 
affairs of men. Able business men have found 
that when they change their line of buan 
they must change their ideas. Eistory records 
many such instances but it would involve 
the names of prominent people to discuss these 
conditions. 

Again, take the working man. and assume 
that he rises to an official position. The con- 
ditions that best suit a working man arc 



52 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

moderate tasks, short hours and a good salary. 
When he becomes an official and sells the 
products of labor to the highest bidder, he 
must change his ideas. As a workman, he 
was required to do good work and receive 
his reward in a pay envelope. As an official, 
he must see to getting the money to put in 
other workmen's envelopes. It is one con- 
dition to get your pay in an envelope on pay 
day; it is another condition to get the money 
to put into other workmen's envelopes. 

Again, take the builder and the designer. 
The builder must begin to build at the lowest 
point in the foundation while the scientific 
designer must begin at the opposite extreme. 
That is, the scientific point at which to begin 
to design a bridge is at the centre and the 
scientific point to begin to design a building 
is at the roof. When the designer begins his 
design, only at these points does he know what 
nature requires of the structure he has in mind. 

A nation is but a collection of individuals, 
so that it, too, has its tides. In the first stage, 



Till. BTOB1 01 CIVIL] 

the people are governed by the I 

Domic Law, of Decreasing Retui i 

they live largely by hunting, fishing, and 

fruits and berri • iii 

their immediate vicinity. A- i In pop il 
increases, the people are forced int « » the 
second Economic Law, th 
Returns. And later Into the third Economic 
Law, that of Increasing Etettu 

To show the difference in ideas that b 
prevailed in this country; in th<' early hist 
timber was burned to gel it out of the way 

and minerals were considered SS of I 

To-day, we plant, timber, stock our 

with fish and find the mineral produi 

our most, valuable sources of wealth. I 

(hat. are directly opposite to that of our ;■ 

fathers. 
There seem to be tides in the affairs o\ men 

and nations, and when the tide changes, there 

is stagnation. In order to bring this law to a 

scientific basis, it will be necessary to prove 

it by the science of mathematics. Using our 



54 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

present enumeration, the quantities increase 
uniformly in the reverse order. By increasing 
the numbers to the higher powers, that is, 
squares, cubes, etc., we find a change. This 
change takes place through unity. All powers 
of one are one. That is, 1 = 1 or 1 raised to 
any power equals 1 . 

Take the numbers two and one-half. The 
square of two is four, while the square of one- 
half is one-fourth. This condition is true for 
all higher powers. Thus, we see that for 
numbers greater than one, the higher powers 
increase, while for numbers less than one, 
they decrease, conditions that are directly 
opposite to each other. 



CH \imi.i; \r 

THE BISTOB1 "i PHJ ; i i'i BLU w 1 1 

Thi governing of mankind has always I 
a perplexing problem. The two forma 
government that seem to have best stood the 
testa are: government by kings and govern- 
ment by officials elected by the people. 

The old adage was: "The king can do do 
wrong; Long live the king/ 1 Apparently as 
late as about 1036 \. d., all the people seemed 
to believe this doctrine About thi> time 
we find the Rnglish king Canute and his 
entire court walking on the Beashore when the 
tide was rising. The court seemed to think 
that the tide would obey the king. The king 
ordered the tide back but it would not i 
him. Tradition tells us that, after that day 
55 



56 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

the king never wore his crown. An interesting 
poem commenting on this occasion was after- 
ward written by W. M. Thackery. The poem 
is entitled "King Canute." 

For various reasons, some classes of people 
seemed to prefer to elect their own rulers. 
In the earlier days of this form of government, 
the people met and elected their rulers by 
what we would term acclamation or direct 
vote. When the country occupied a large 
territory, this form of election was found to 
be impractical. The next step was the forming 
of parties and electing the rulers by means 
of these parties. The parties embody the 
principles or form of government that the 
people desire to have. By tracing the history 
of Rome and Carthage we find parties existing 
before the beginning of the christian era. 
Those parties as well as the parties of our own 
day and country always embodied some 
principles. 

From this we see that the idea of a party 
was not a new one, so that when our present 



I Hi 01 CIS n.l/ \ i "»< 

government was formed, the people naturally 
formed themselves into cliq 
We will nut discuss the eai lier parti 
country, either as to their mot i ; [nation, 

but will confine our analysis to ili« I 
ElepublicaD Party. 

This party was formed about I v 'Ik 1 

purpose of checking the spread of alav< 
Through its efforts, slavery was not only 
checked but totally destroyed. That ol 
being accomplished, the party i up 

the idea ^\ protection. 

Judging from the | a that b 

made in the last fifty years, the country 
prospered under this form <>\ government. 
However, it has led us into a peculiar scientific 
situation that requires some attention. 

In order to understand the situation clearly, 
it will be necessary to take up the sciem 
mathematics. Mathematicians b 
that varying quantities occur in pairs. Hut 
if we consider all the coal, wheat, oil, land. 
etc., there is in the world, wo might consider 



58 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

them as varying quantities, or at least unknown 
quantities. At one time in the history of the 
world, the measurement of these quantities 
created difficulty. The problem was solved 
by taking a certain distance and calling it a 
yard or meter and a certain mass of metal 
and calling it a pound or gram. Our present 
systems of standard weights and measures 
have been built largely from these two fixed 
conditions. The solution seems to be satis- 
factory as the measurement of these quantities 
are not creating any difficulty. 

Going a step farther into mathematics, we 
find another set of quantities, those in which 
the quantities vary but the ratio is constant. 
This problem was solved by determining the 
ratio and gives us the trigometric tables used 
by engineers and architects. The sides of a 
triangle vary but the ratio is always constant 
for any given angle. The diameter of a 
circle varies, but its relation or ratio to the 
circumference is always constant. Probably 
no person will ever know how much labor it 



'I HI I\ !!.l/.\ I 

took to determine these ratios, but when the) 
arc oiirc accurately determined, they cause 
do further difficulty. 

( loing b Btep farther into mathems I 
find Btill another Bet of perplexing quant If 
The simplest illustratioo th<- miter is able 
ive is thai of a young lady of twenty w ho 
contemplated marrying a mai 
rather hesitated about the matter and ■ 
sympathetic friend took her to 
young lad) Co tell the truth, b 

too old." "But, the friend, "hi 

only twice as old as you are." "That," 
says the young lady, "is just what is worrying 
me, for when I am forty he will be eighty." 
A moment's consideration will show us the 

fallacy of the young ladies' arithmetic l>ut 

there is an important mathematical principle 
involved in the transaction, that in which the 
quantities vary and the ratio varies. That is 
the condition that is causing trouble to-day. 

For the sake oi argument, we will assume 
that they marry. Any person can see that 



60 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

our ages are constantly changing. Let us look 
then at the ratios. When the wife was one 
year old, the husband was twenty-one years 
old, and the ratio of their ages was one to 
twenty-one. When the wife was five years old, 
the husband was twenty-five years old, and 
the ratio of their ages was one to five. When 
the wife was ten years old, the husband was 
thirty -years old, and the ratio of their ages 
was one to three. When the wife was twenty 
years old, the husband was forty years old, 
and the ratio of their ages was one to two. 
Theoretically they never become the same age, 
but the ratio between their ages can be made 
less than any assigned quantity however small, 
and gives us an idea of the differential as 
taught by the older school of mathematicians, 
especially Olney and Bowser. 

Let us turn this latter condition to our 
present every-day affairs. In our every day 
life we find four quantities, wages, prices of 
produce, rents, and taxes. Every person in 
the universe is affected by at least one of these 



THE STOBT OF i ivn.iz I ; 61 

quantities. Under present business conditi 
each one of bheee four quantities is allowed 
to act independently, yet they are so tied 
bher thai one automatically affects the 
other. In order to understand the situation 
clearly, perhaps a Blight discussioD will !><• 
necessary, v. effect the working d 

produce affects the fanners; rent the 

landlords and taxes affect the governments. 

In the early history of this country, it 
supposed that the <>niy occupation the people 
would care to follow would be fanning. This 
led to a peculiar Btate of affaire. Every 
farmer had produce to sell but each raised 

what he needed on his own farm. Consequently 

there were no markets for produce. What 
the farmer could not raise 1 or manufacture 
on his own farm, he was compelled to buy 
from outside 1 sources at a cash value. This 
led all the trade 1 in 01a 1 direction. While 1 the 1 

farmer had plenty te> live 1 e>n, it was almost 
impossible lor him to procure any money. 
Any person can readily sen 1 that considerable 



62 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

capital is required for plant and equipment 
before manufacturing can be carried on as we 
see it to-day. With produce practically worth- 
less, it was impossible to procure the capital 
in this country, so that much of it was pro- 
cured from outside sources. Thus, interest 
on borrowed capital has been going against us. 
When the manufacturer was compelled to 
borrow money from outside sources and pay 
interest on it, he could not afford to sell his 
manufactured articles for the same price as 
those brought in from other countries. He 
had no way to meet his interest. Apparently 
what was needed was some form of govern- 
ment that would allow the manufacturer to 
be able to sell his manufactured articles in the 
home markets at a less rate than they could be 
brought in from foreign markets, and still be 
able to sell them for more than it would cost to 
manufacture them in foreign countries. This 
condition was brought about by means of a 
protective tariff and the idea was taken up 
by the Republican Party. 



-I in I If CIVILIZATION 

From the end Of the Civil War until about 
1884, we had a condition in thil country of 

comparatively high prices for produce and tow 
wages. During this period, wheat ranged in 
price from $1.10 per bushed to $1.26 per 
bushel. With the completion of our railroad 
ems and .-team-hip lines, a sudden change 
was broughl about in this country in the 
price of produce. About 1884, the price of 

wheat suddenly dropped to about $.60 per 

bushel and remained about that price for 
perhaps twenty years. This was brought 
about from the fact that the price of wheat 
no longer was fixed locally in this country. 
but was fixed f. o, l>. Mt Liverpool. England. 

This gave US cheap food products. 'The labor 
market was regulated by importing laborers 

from Europe, thus giving us cheap food and 
cheap labor. 

These conditions seemed to work very well 
until our home markets were supplied. Then 
came the panic oi the early nineties. This 

panic was broken by the formation of the 



64 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

called trusts. That is, the smaller companies 
were formed into larger companies. Before 
these larger companies could operate economi- 
cally, it necessitated doing an immense amount 
of new development work. This new work is 
practically finished. 

As our population increases, the amount of 
food products that we can export decreases, 
so that our income from that source is con- 
stantly decreasing. At the same time, it 
allows us to fix prices for food products in our 
own markets. These naturally follow the 
price of our protected manufactured articles. 
To-day we have the highest prices ever known 
in time of peace, for food products. With the 
aid of labor unions wages have also been forced 
to the highest ratio ever known in a civilized 
country, in time of peace. Rents and taxes 
have also been increased in proportion. 

Nature says how long our manufactured 
products will wear or how much they will 
carry. Nature says how long a loaf of bread 
will sustain life. The laws of nature are the 



i in. BTOBT Of ' iviliz \ ; I 

e in tin's country as they are In all other 
countries. Mankind aaya how much tl 
art icles are worth in dollan and cent 

Apparently the mai the world for at 

least the next fifty yean are South America, 
Africa, Russia and Asia, Can we sell our 
manufactured articles in these countries under 
existing conditions, In competition with the 
manufactured articles of other i 
will they under-sell us? We might say that 
we can come back i«» a strictly agricultural 
basis. But if we do, bow is our balance 
trade? We nms! either repudiate our d< 
and become bankrupt, or else pay tin- debts 
or the Legal interest on them. The int. 
on debts and securities held in foreign count 
is against us. The amount of money 
annually from this country by our foreign 
population is against us. Our \\nn\ products 
are practically consumed by our population 
and bring us no money from outside soui 

With wages and produce at present rj 

our manufactured articles cost a price so 



GG THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

high that other nations can under-sell us. 
How then, are we to keep this country from 
being drained of money? 

While the problem is perplexing and diffi- 
cult, it seems as though this nation must soon 
solve it one way or another. The working 
people know from actual experience that 
if their wages are increased five per cent, and 
the cost of their food ten per cent., they have 
less after they get their increase than they had 
before. If wages are increased and food 
products remain stationary, the farmers must 
suffer. If the reverse, the workingmen must 
suffer. If rents remain stationary and taxes 
increase, the landlords must suffer; if the 
reverse, the governments have not sufficient 
to meet their needs. 

A protective tariff has allowed us to develop 
the economic law of increasing returns, which 
is the law that brings the greatest amount 
from nature for the least expenditure of capital, 
time and labor. 

If we content ourselves with our home 



'mi OF i l\ il.l/.x i 

markets, «rith interest and oth 
agaii rid cam:' | something that 

will bring us money from outside sources, the 
country will soon be drain* If 

wages arc not kept up, the workingman i 
Look for other lines of employment, n 
away or perish. Ii ouj workingmi d I 
the farmers w ill soon ha\ e do local n ai 
and they musl go back to the condii 
thai existed in the forties and fifties. One 
solut ion to the food prol len to I"- to 

fix the price of labor from time to time, and 
adjust the price of food pro and 

taxes to meet it. There may be other solut 
to tin" problem. 

With all due respect to the brilliant work that 
the Republican Party has accomplished; with 
all due respect to the brainy men who founded 
the party and with all due reaped to the 
brainy men who constitute the party to-day, 
can we exist much longer under the conditions 
that have been mentioned, and these aeem to be 
the conditions that are confronting us to-day? 



CHAPTER VII 



THE COLLEGE STUDENT 



As the population of the world increases, 
the struggle for existence becomes keener. 
To aid mankind to better meet the demands 
that nature imposes upon them, they have 
founded schools, colleges and universities. 
These are for teaching both young men and 
young women. 

While in most cases we conscientiously try 
to instruct the boys and girls along lines that 
will be useful to them in later life, sometimes 
we seem to over shoot the mark and at other 
times our ammunition seems to fall short of 
the mark. In the end, Dame Nature seems 
to govern and the student is compelled to 
follow her laws. 

68 



THI BTOBT "i I i\ ii.i/.vi I"'- 

The idea <»f schools fa not a new on 

can trace their &X3SU nee all thlOUgfa the pages 
of history. With tin- development Of manu- 
factures in this country, we ha-, i" d 
two i hools, tin' i and the 
technical. Hie < ' chools d< their 
attention largely to the 

the technical Schools deVOtUlg thi tttlOD 

largely to the need- <>i" cur industrial insthu- 
tions. 

While an education enables a person 
enjoy life in a larger measure, it must also 

looked upon from a financial standpoint. 

That is, what is the carnii 

student after he leaves school? 

The aim of the schools iA to-,. 
thorough and complete, yet ^U^ they i ■ 
times over shoot the mark and compel students 

to spend valuable time studying su 

questionable value, when that time could be 

more profitably spent in other places or along 
other lines oi study. In the classical schools, 

can a student afford to spend his time in the 



70 THE STORY OP CIVILIZATION 

study of dead languages? For some reason, 
the world has discarded them. They are not 
spoken to-day, consequently very few people, 
outside of our classical schools study or under- 
stand them. 

True, there is a polish to be gained by 
studying any language either dead or modern, 
but since the average student after leaving 
school must face an intensely practical world, 
can he afford to spend his time acquiring some- 
thing that the world has long since discarded? 
Is he not working very. much as any person 
would work, who built a railroad in a desert 
only to find after his road is built, that he has 
nothing to transport? Studying dead lan- 
guages may give a student a better ability 
to convey ideas, but do they give him ideas to 
convey? It matters not how polished his 
language may be if he lacks ideas, is he not 
in as bad a condition financially as the person 
who builds a railroad in a desert? 

In their zeal to meet the requirements of a 
growing manufacturing country, it seems that 



•i ill. BT0B1 OF CIVIL] < I 

some of the technical schools hai e i 
shot the mark. Can i student of mod 
means afford to spend his time and pa] 
price for the prh ilege of I< 
saw wood and hammer iron or steel in coll< 
when he can better learn those thh 
when- and gel paid for it? True, the ai 
handling materials b something that every 
technical Btudent Deeds to know; but by 
working in any good shop or with any good 
contractor he can leai d as much about those 
things in s week as he would learn in the 
average college In a whole term, v 
in a shop or with a contractor, his work must 
be salable, and he gets paid for it. Working 
in college his work is -imply done for practice 
and the student knows it; consequently, his 
work may be good, indifferent or even p 
Think it over, boys! Are you ready for coll< ge 
before you have had a year or two of practical 
work along the lines you wish to pursue in 

college? 

This brings us to the age oi college students. 



72 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

Many parents of moderate means say they will 
give their children an education. Is it possible 
to give any person an education or must the 
person work it out for themselves? In their 
zeal to accomplish this end, many parents 
deny themselves and other members of their 
families the necessaries of life in order that 
some member may attend college. Whether 
this is a wise or a foolish move seems to de- 
pend very largely upon the person in college. 
Speaking of boys in particular, if they attend 
school from the age of six until manhood and 
have never been required to earn their own 
living, have they had sufficient experience 
with the world to be able to grasp the ideas 
that the average college is able to give? Are 
not such persons too young to go to college? 
On the other hand, if they have tried to earn 
their living and failed, are they not either too 
dull or too lazy to ever be benefited by a 
college education? 

If I had my way for the higher education 
of boys, I would compel them to earn part of 



i in. ST0R1 Of ( i\ ii.i/ \- : 

their college expenses, for then many 

things i" learn in colli ge that are do! 

in books. 

Lastly, we come to th< 
to college but feel that they cannot afford it. 
Such boya can go through college, but b( 
going they must make up their minds to deny 
themselves of many things that lit 
deal'; to work many long hou 
months and years, unsung, unhonored and 

unknown, and work afl they OS 

before. In the end, after t h \ 

their college and preliminary work, and 

ready to face life squarely th be able 

in sum the whole thing up in thi 

look and Bee. If they cannot do that, they 

arc not in the game and they never v. ill 






CHAPTER VIII 



COMPETITION 



Newton, in his first law of motion, states 
that any body, if set in motion, will move 
in a straight line and continue to move forever 
unless acted upon by some external force. 
Thus, theoretically, a baseball, when in motion, 
should move in a straight line and continue 
to move for an indefinite period. If we 
observe a baseball, we see that it does not 
move in a straight line, but in a curved line 
and soon comes to rest on the ground. 

If Newton's first law of motion is correct, 
then the baseball must be acted upon by ex- 
ternal forces. Thus, if we follow the course 
of a baseball we see there are laws of nature 
that conflict or compete, and the baseball will 
74 



I ill. 9T0R1 OF ' l\ ll.iz vi [ON < 

obey aeither law exactly but follows th< lin<- 
of least resistance. This, then, w ill • 
natural definition for competition. Com] 
tion ie the application of external 
This makes competition and friction Bin 
terms. It seems to depend as to which i 
nomic la* governs our transactions as to how 
competition \\ ill afifecl us. 

In the economic law of «l< i 
that is, hunt ing, fishing, d [nil g, luo i ring, 
etc., nature Bets no limit as to th< nun 
of people \\ li»» may be employed 
i ime. The sole occupation of th< 
hunting and fishing. 

In the economic law of d< i 
the value lies in the product. As the number 
of people employed are unlimited, competition 
here becomes the life of business. That is, 
the people who succeed in hunting, fishing, 
etc., must be quick and wide awake. These 
people in turn spur their less active neigh 
to greater activity. 

In the economic law of constant returns. 



76 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

competition practically does not exist. People 
who dwelt in tents and lived from the products 
of their flock and herds scarcely realized the 
meaning of the term competition. People 
working on salaries scarcely realize a depression 
in business. 

In the economic law of increasing returns, 
competition becomes a serious factor. In 
this law, competition is no longer the life of 
business, but becomes the death of business. 
As it is, the economic law of increasing returns 
that governs the civilized world to-day, and 
must govern it in the future, perhaps a dis- 
cussion of this economic law with respect to 
modern business conditions may be necessary. 

Through the streets of our cities and over 
our wheat and corn fields the hunter once 
stalked his game. The fisherman set his 
traps and nets in every stream. The miner 
began at the surface and worked his way far 
into the interior of the earth until to-day he 
is, or should be, a scientific man. The lumber 
man mowed down the forests and in their 
place have come different conditions. 



•i 111. 8T0RT OF ( imi.iz \ 77 

In our cities, the economic law of decreasing 
returns has passed; the economic Ian of oon- 
. tanl returns and the economic law of Incn 
in<^ returns are upon us. Apparently the 
first Btep thai mankind took in combatting 
the economic law of in< returns was 

to divide the land by means of artificial lines. 
This necessitated the establishment of statute 
law. Apparently, for many centuries the 
division of land and Btatute Ian irern 

the Bame was all the civilised world required. 
This method gave the people plenty of food, 
clothing and shelter they provided fur them- 
selves. 

With the invention of the steam engine and 
kindred machines, for the first time in the 
history o\ the world mankind has been able 

to produce more than Sufficient material 

to clothe and shelter the people. This has 
only been accomplished by the formation oi 
gigantic industrial organisations. Observa- 
tion proves one fact conclusively, that is, 
that the large organisations drive out the 



78 THE STORY OP CIVILIZATION 

smaller organizations. Or, the stronger sur- 
vive while the weaker fail. 

That has been the history of competition. 
The Conestoga wagon drove out the pack 
horse. The canal drove out the Conestoga 
wagon, and the railroad has driven out the 
canal. Each organization, in turn, requiring 
a greater amount of capital to establish it and 
each in turn requiring a greater income. If 
competition is a good thing, the more we have 
the better it will be for us. As an example, 
take the Pennsylvania Railroad, operating 
between Pittsburgh and New York and giving 
the people good service. 

Parallel the Pennsylvania Railroad, just 
outside its right of way, with a competing 
Company.. Would you get better or cheaper 
service? This method doubles the expense 
while the income remains the same. Parallel 
both sides of the right of way with competing 
companies and in six months you would not 
be able to turn a wheel on either of the three 
roads. The income would not begin to pay 



I in. BT0B1 OF < l\ li.l/.\ i ! 

the i oothing oi the 

in efficiency of the working force. 'I bus, 

that too much competition kill.- the in- 
dustry. 

Take the beef people; the] 
sell meal to a dealer everj i they do n<>t 

want to Bell to him al all. Are they justified 
in thn'r actions? The perishable nature of 
the goods these people handle need n<»t be 
discussed. It' they Bell meat to a deal 
week, in time they will know approximately 
how much meat they will need to provide 
in eider to Bupply their customers. It" the 
business were allowed to become erratic, the 
losses would be so great that it could not be 
conducted at all. 

To-day our steel milk >perating at 

about fifty per cent, of their capacity! Will 

the building of more Bteel mills decrease the 
price of Bteel? It' the capital already invested 
is only employed for about one-halt" the time, 

Would it seem wise to invent any more Capital 

in building up that particular enterprise? 



80 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

If we study the subject carefully, we see that 
competition is affected by the natural law 
that reverses. 

In the economic law of decreasing returns, 
competition spurs men to greater activity 
and decreases prices. In his hunting and 
fishing, the savage was spurred to greater 
activity by the competition of his associates. 
Where nature supplies the product, competi- 
tion decreases the prices. That is, in mining, 
lumbering, etc., men or corporations com- 
pete against each other, decrease the cost of 
production and very often bring on a war of 
the kilkenny cats. 

In the economic law of increasing returns, 
we find a different condition. Probably the 
first step mankind made under this law was 
in agriculture. If every person were allowed 
to share in the harvest, the person who did 
the planting would get no returns for his labor. 
In that case, there would be no planting; 
consequently, there could be no harvest. 

It was necessary to protect agriculture by 



i SI BT0B1 01 CIYILI1ATIOM 81 

means of statute law before it became a success. 
Following the same line of n not 

the men or corporations who invest their 
capital in building up a business entitled to 
some legal protection? In the economic law 
of increasing returns, where lai of 

money must be invested before nature [ 
any returns, free competition must do one 
of three things. It will either advance pri 

(•rente :i fight that will kill the busineSB, 

create a monopoly. Either condition is detri- 
mental to the welfare of mankind. 

'The cry of the age is for peace among man- 
kind, yet can we hope fur peace when the 
statute laws allow men to fly at each oil 

throats? In tin 4 final end. nature determines 

how much she will give US for OUT labor. 

In order to conduct our industries so that 
people may live, it is necessary that mankind 
should be at peace with each other. In order 
to bring about that universal peace, will it not 

be necessary to abolish competition and regu- 
late our industries by means of statute law? 



CHAPTER IX 



MANHOOD 



In Genesis (1-27) we read, "So God created 
man after His own image." If man was 
created after so high an image, how can we 
account for the inequalities and the suffering 
we see around us? In order to live, mankind 
must have three things: food, clothing, shelter. 
Mankind has found that by working together 
it is easier to procure these three necessaries 
of life than if each person works separately. 
Probably the first step mankind made in the 
progress of working with his fellowman was 
speech and from speech came language. By 
this method he could communicate his ideas 
to his fellowman when his fellowman was 
within hearing of his voice. Logically speaking 
82 



Tin; BTOBT Of ( iviuz.vi [ON 83 

the next Btep \\:is id write his ideas "ii baric, 
papyrus or paper, thus : 1 1 1 « > w i 1 1 ir mankind 
to communicate at a distance. 

Following the written language came the 
printed language, whereby the ideas of one 
person could be conveyed to many persons. 
Following the printed lang me the 

postal system and later the telegraph and 

telephone. 

\\ hen mail lives from the products Of nature. 

his main idea seems to be to appropriate the 
products of nature to his own Deeds. Thus, 
the savage probably never aaw the Btately 
beauty of the deer. When the aavi 
an animal, his only idea Beems to have been 
to kill it. Nor can we think strangely (, f this 
when we realise that the flesh of animal- was 

the main food supply of the Bavage. The 
North American Indian has an interesting 
history. Previous to his coming in contact 
with the white man his strongest trait of 
character seems to have been a hospitality 
that knew no hounds. This seems to he a 



84 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

characteristic trait of the savage wherever we 
find him. Nor can we think strangely of this 
trait of character, for as soon as the animal 
was slain, the savage was ready to feast. 

Apparently the savage knew nothing of 
what we call law and order. War and the 
chase was his occupation; he would lie, steal or 
murder, but the one trait of character that was 
the mark of savage nobility, was that the 
stranger never went hungry from the tent of 
the Indian. War did not affect the occupa- 
tion of the savage, so he had no occasion to 
try and stop it. 

In the semi-civilized state of society, war 
began to affect business. When men began 
to live from the products of their flocks and 
herds, war either took their flocks and herds 
from them or scattered the flocks and herds 
to the four winds of heaven. 

In either case, the people either had to go 
back to the savage stage and live by hunting 
and fishing or perish. Men began to plead 
with each other, "Abraham said unto Lot, 



I III OF i W I!-!/. VI B5 

Let there be do strife b< 
brethren." 
Probably the invention of gun powder 

marks the dawn of tin- civilized man. While 

we are still savage enough 
casional war, both si 

quit al the first opportunity. The hoi 
of war seem more real when the other feflow 
is ahootiDg al us than when we are 
at the other fellow; the result is that people 
do not care to have war. In place of war, the 
civilised man lias built up societies, lodges and 
codes of honor. Probably the oldest form or 
code of honor is one person's word or promise 
given to another person. In some sections 
and among some people, this seems to be all 

the law that is neces>arv. 

The word of honor is not always sufficient 
because people <\o not all look at life from the 
same standpoint. City people go into the 

country and grow enthusiastic about the pun- 
food, air, water, scenery, etc. The farmer e 

"You wouldn't see those things if you had to 



86 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

plow." Country people go into the city and 
marvel at its wonders. City people say, 
"You wouldn't see those things if you had to 
live in the city." 

Scientists become oblivious to the present 
and, in fancy, transport themselves to the dim, 
distant past, when they behold the book of 
nature as it is written in the coal and rock of 
the mines. The miner says, "You wouldn't 
see those things if you had to live under the 
ground." We know how the steel is trans- 
ported to the frontier of civilization and there 
helps to make the desert blossom like the 
Garden of Eden. The mill men say, "You 
wouldn't think of those things when you face 
the furnaces." Undoubtedly each class of 
people see life correctly from their own stand- 
point and are willing to fight to maintain their 
ideas. 

History proves that the hardest conflicts 
ever fought between men were waged when 
both sides were fighting for a principle. The 
savage conquered his foe in battle and then 



I ill. BTOm "I ' I\ II. I/. \I |fi\ 



appropriated the foe's lands and bunting 
grounds as hie own. Th( semi-civiliied man 

. •■ Let u ha ■ • i ' • ." the <i\ Hised man 
, "We hum have pea* I tight 

about because tin- civilised man i 
humane than the savage, <»r i ught 

about by the working out of natural I. 
which mankind has qo control? 

To the savage, it made no difference v. In-i ln-r 
hia life \\ as spent in peace or * ar, in i lie village 
or on the hunting field, hi- method 
procuring his food was the same in <ith<T 

case. Kill the animal that roamed I 

the plain or through the forest and he 
ready to feast to his heart's content, 
flesh gave him food; the akin gave him 
clothing and shelter; he needed no more 

to sustain life. His point- <>\ honor v 
settled by physical and not by intellectual 
methods. 

Apparently time hung heavily on the hands 
of the semi-civilised man. His life was con- 
trolled by the economic law of constant re- 



88 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

turns, hence war was not a menace to his 
existence but an inconvenience. 

The civilized man, being controlled by the 
economic law of increasing returns is forced 
into a life of activity. Since this economic 
law permits him to build permanent homes, 
with fields of grains, orchards, vineyards, etc., 
war is no longer an inconvenience but means 
positive destruction. Destroy his buildings, 
orchards, lay waste his grain fields and the 
civilized man must perish. Nature no longer 
permitted the civilized man to settle his points 
of honor on the field of battle, so the civilized 
man must settle his points of manhood in 
some other manner. 

First, he tried religion, but religion seems to 
be losing its grip on the masses. Next, he 
tried the ballot box, but, when the ballot is 
placed in the hands of ignorant people, it is 
either a farce or becomes dangerous. Lastly, 
he tried competitive examinations. The meth- 
od by which the employer states what he 
wants, the prospective employee what he can 



i in. BTOH1 01 ' i\ n.iz\ i m.N s|) 

give and the decision mafic by sonic di- 
ed party seems to satisfy the minds of fair 

minded people. 

Strikes are l>ut industrial 

just as injurious to manufacturing and DUflU 
interestfl as actual war i- to agricultural 

interests. Mos1 of the hard strikes that I 

been conducted in this country \\. 

waged on principle or points of honor. In 

recent years, most of the hard striked ttaVC 

been brought on by the workmen tryin 
force the recognition of the labor unions. 
In conducting a struggle of thai kind the work- 
ingmen must remember two facts: first, tin- 
laws of this country do not recognise churches, 

creeds, Lodges or societies of any kind. Why. 

then, should the law recognise labor uni 
Second, the instant the law recognises lal>or 
unions, the workingmen become bUv( 

With our different methods oi communi- 
cation, misunderatandings often occur. An 
important letter goes astray; a telegram has 
not been properly sent or received; something 



90 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

went wrong. Acquisitions made on one side 
are resented on the other. Both sides standing 
on points of manhood; friendships broken; 
reputations ruined; business injured. Most 
of this could be avoided by a legal method of 
discharge giving both sides a chance to be 
heard. 

Assuming that our business relations are 
balanced, are we then ready to close our 
military schools and our naval academies. 
One person does not form a city, one nation 
does not form a world. Christian nations 
do not see life from the same standpoint. 

When men will no longer obey moral law 
or statute law, they have but one other force, 
natural law — the cannon and the rifle. As 
the economic law of increasing returns com- 
pels the people to remain at peace and nature 
still compels us to maintain our military and 
naval academies, what are we to do with the 
product? 

It seems as though it might be profitable 
to have the graduates of our military acade- 



nil. BT0B1 "i I n UAZA I 
iiiics drill (lie Bchool boys in regular army 

tact ics; thu assist ing the boyi to d< velop 
Btronger ami more graceful bodies. In 'inn 
it, would give a nation <»f men, \\ 1 1 « • . if 
demanded, could in a very ahorl time, 
formed into an army. The graduates of <»ur 
naval academies could, if n< 
to train seamen for merchantmen that would 

carry our products i<» the endfl of the earth. 

Assuming thai all christian nations could 

brought to sec life from the Same Btandp 

could we, then, demolish our fortfl and turn 
our war vessels into merchantmen? < lii ist ian- 
ity is only effecth e over a portion of the earth; 
there still remains the llohammedon and tic 
Duddish. In Christian countries, the founda- 
tion o( statute law ifl tin- Oath. Yet the 
Mohammedon and the Buddish ha\e no more 

respect for the oath a> we acuninister it. than 
we have for the oath, the way they administer 
it. This condition is especially true o\ the 

Chinese. 

Assuming that the whole world could be 



92 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

brought to see life from the same standpoint, 
could we then lay down our arms? When 
the hoe is laid by in the garden, the weeds begin 
to grow. Destroy our firearms, discharge 
the policemen, turn our war vessels into 
merchantmen and in time the land will be 
filled with thieves and the ocean with pirates. 
Children are born into the world every day. 
They know neither right nor wrong. The 
pathway of life is to them, an unknown road 
and we left them no land marks. 

Nature insists that her forces must remain 
balanced. In by-gone ages, she balanced 
her forces by storing her surplus and formed 
the coal, oil and mineral beds that we are using 
to-day. 

When man lived directly from her products, 
his hospitality knew no bounds. When nature 
required an effort from man in order that he 
might live, we find a different person. His 
hospitality has given way to what might be 
called stinginess, yet this is brought about by 
a natural cause. 



Tin. BTOBT Of « i\ n.iz \ i 

The savage replenished hia larder from t he* 

fores! or the Bl renin and could replenish it 

:it any time t li.it lie desired. The civilised 
man can only replenish his larder si the hai 
time. If his larder becomes empty in the 
meantime, he and his family may perish. 

When man works with the economic law 
of decreasing returns, oatun aim her 

products. When he works with the economic 

law of increasing returns nature gives him of 

her power. If in his zeal he draws more power 
than he needs to perform bis task, he. hi- 
descendants or the people who employ him 
must repay that power. 

If mankind can ever balance the foi 
of nature by policehlg the seas with the war 
vessels, the land with the army, having man- 
kind willing to obey nature's laws and intelli- 
gent enough not to meddle with nature's laws, 
then we might hope to produce that type of 

manhood and womanhood for which mankind 
has BOUght since the dawn of time, and the 
world has never yet been able to produce. 



CHAPTER X 



FREEDOM 



What is freedom? Some might answer, 
the air that we breathe, the water that we 
drink, and the clouds that sail through the 
sky are free. A moments consideration will 
convince us that even air, water and clouds 
are not free but are controlled by natural 
laws; in most cases, laws that man can neither 
fathom nor control. 

The horses and cattle shed their coats, the 
birds shed their feathers and the deer shed 
their horns according to these same natural laws 
and do it uncomplainingly. There seems to be 
something in the life of the civilized man that 
is antagonistic to animal life. If domestic 
animals escape and become associated with 
94 



•i 111. BTOBT Of I n n. i/. \ i i«>\ 

wild animals, they become wilder ili.ui any 
of the animals thai have oevi r be n don 
cated. Whatever this conditioa may be, il 
seems to have a continuous effect on the human 
race, since the dawn of history, mankind has 
struggled to be f] Prom what? \i 

the earliest Bible records we read : " 
therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none 
of you be freed from being bondsmen, and 
hewers of wood and drawers <>f water for the 
house of my < rod." 

\ll through Biblical times and historical 
times we find records of this constant d< 
of mankind to be free. In the earlier d 

prisoners of war became -laves and the desire 
for freedom might >eem as a longing of these 
slaves for their former conditions. Later. 

existing forms i^i government were overthrown 
and new governments created. Probably one 
of the most dramatic events ever recorded by 

historians is that in connection with the battle 

(A Lexington i^\ the American Revolution. 
One man riding through the night and waking 



96 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

his fellowmen who, in the grey dawn, shoulder 
their muskets and go forth to battle, many of 
them never to return to their sleeping families. 

After many trials and hardships, the govern- 
ment of the United States is founded and for 
the first time in the history of the world, we 
find what men call a free government. We 
boast that we live in the land of the free, 
yet never for an instant has the struggle for 
freedom ceased. Neither poverty nor wealth, 
liberty nor slavery, ignorance nor education, 
hand work nor machinery have been able to 
stop the struggle. Since the struggle affects 
all classes and has continued for centuries, 
it must be a violation of some natural law. 
Let us see whether we can find it. 

This struggle for freedom seems only to 
affect the civilized man; we find none of it 
in the savage. To show the idea of the savage, 
I will quote the speech of Logan, the Mingo 
Indian Chief, as recorded in the Olden Time, 
Vol. II, P. 50. 

"I appeal to any white man to say if he 






Tin; BTOBT OF ' l\ ii.iz \ i tON 

< \ it entered Logan's cabin hm I he 

him do meal ; it" he me cold and 

naked and he clothed him not. During the 
course of the last long and bloody wt i 
remained idle in his cabin, an adv< 
pence, such was my Love for the whites thai my 
countrymen pointed as they passed and said, 
'Logan is the friend of the white men'; I had 
even thoughl t»» have lived with you, but foi 
the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresep, the 
last Spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, 
murdered all the relations of Logan, not i 
sparing my women and children. There runs 
not, s drop of my blood in the veins of any living 

creature. This calling on me foi I 

have sought it; I have killed many; I have 

fully glutted my vengeance, tor my country I 

rejoice at the beams of peace. Hut do not 
harbor a thought that mine is the joy oi fear. 
Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on 

his heel to save 1 his life. Who is there to mourn 
for Logan? Not one." 

A hospitality that knew no bounds, bold. 



98 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

fearless, defiant, yet not one word or sigh for 
freedom. Whatever antagonism exists be- 
tween mankind and the natural laws governing 
the animal kingdom does not affect the life 
of the savage; it only affects the life of the 
civilized man. In the earlier days, the sigh 
for freedom may have been caused by the 
slave longing for his former home and con- 
ditions. So varied and uncertain are these 
early conditions that we will begin our search 
in the conditions that brought on the Revo- 
lutionary War between what is now the 
United States and England. 

Undoubtedly at no other time in colonial 
history, was the feeling between the colonies 
and the mother country as friendly as at the 
close of the French and Indian War about 
17G0. The colonists had helped the British 
to defeat the French, and England was mistress 
of the American continent. Fifteen years 
later, we find these same colonists beginning 
their war for independence and eventually 
establishing what the world knows as a free 



TH1 BTOBY "i CTVTUZA i ; 

• mment. What brought about this ch 
of feeling? 

Bistoriana tell ua it was the Stamp 
land made thi d paper; the colonists 

were supposed to buy it. Taxation without 
representation ia given as another cau 
warmest friends of the colonists in the English 
Parliament claimed that the coloi i no 

right to manufacture not e^ i d aa much 
horseshoe nail. The facta cited may h 
caused the Revolutionary Wat. if they did, 
then the Bt ruggle among humanity foi 
should have ceased with tin- founding of a 
government. Instead of ceasing, the 
tor freedom increased, ><» we must look for 
deeper causes. 

After the close of the Revolutionary War. 
many people were imprisoned for debt. Un- 
doubtedly, a good interpretation of the i 
of those days would be, "Provide the people 

with money and they'll be free." Yet to-day 
it is net safe for many o\ our millionaire- to 
appear on the streets oi our cities without 



100 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

body guards. Would you call those people 
free? Money has not freed humanity. 

Some may say, "Relieve the parents from 
the care of their children, provide the parents 
with food, clothing, shelter and they'll be free. 
In the days of slavery, on the well regulated 
plantations, the master reared and trained 
the children of the slave and provided the 
slave with food, clothing and shelter. By 
such an arrangement the slave was the freest 
person the sun ever shone upon, yet we find 
the slave singing, "I shall be free when the 
great day comes." Relieving responsibility 
does not seem to free humanity. 

Some may say, "Relieve humanity from 
toil and they'll be free." If that statement 
is true, then the steam engine should have 
freed mankind. With the introduction of 
the steam engine the struggle for freedom 
increased and has continued to increase until 
to-day press, pulpit and workmen are trying 
to relieve society from what? 

Slavery was abolished; free governments 



I III. -I ni:\ <»l < !\ ||.!/ 



101 



dished; wealth increased; toil diminished, 
\ * i the .-i i uggle for freedom continue 
the 

tinued for <•< Qtui 

between man and nature and n< 
between man and man. 

In the quotation gn en from tl 
will note but one fact. Apparently those 
people were i in building :» church. 

Coming down to modern times, why «li«l 
England object to letting the coi anu- 

facture and why did tin- colonists want to 
manufacture? England contain 
population than the country will support and 
is forced to obtain food supplies from out 
sources. Previous to the ! a Revolution 

she obtained most of her food suppli - from 
her American Colonies. 1 1 1 to 

pay the colonists for those food suppl 
The colonists needed many things in the way 

ol manufactured articles and England wanted 

to supply those articles. Why did England 

want to supply those manufactured articles, 



102 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

and why did the colonists object? Evidently 
England wanted to furnish manufactured 
articles because it was the only way she had 
to employ her surplus population and the only 
means she had to pay for her food supplies. 
If the colonists bought their supplies from 
England, apparently it became a matter of 
trade and the colonists had no money to meet 
their own needs. The result of the matter 
was that the colonists decided to do their 
own manufacturing and have their own gov- 
ernment. 

Such being the case, capital and labor should 
have worked in harmony. Yet we find they 
did not, nor do not work in harmony. Ever 
since the formation of this government, the 
tendency has been to combine until to-day we 
have some of the largest industrial organi- 
zations this world has ever seen. They seem 
to be drawn together by some natural law. 

History does not record for how long a 
period mankind tried to live by means of 
agriculture before they learned that they must 



•I ill OF CIVIL] 103 

divide the surface of the earth by meai 

artificial lines, since th< 

been marked by artificial IL riculture 

It has only been about a centui 
Pulton first oavigated the Hudson River by 
means of steam and doI more than a qu 
or perhaps half a « ■• atury -inc. th 
engine made itself felt in the lines of ti 
Prom the introduction of th 
until the present time, the world 1 t" 

regulate trade by means of i ion. 

The result has ; instant - 

few have risen, while milli 
trodden down. Not only the poor and the 
ignorant, but wealth and education have 
sunk into oblivion. Th 
one condition that could cause this disai 
and that is competition in the economic law 
of Increasing Returns. 

You say the farmers compete in their 
annual fairs and exhibitions. Not at all. they 
simply compare. Comparison stimulates to 



104 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

greater activity; competition kills. Before 
the earth was divided by land lines, the farmer 
was subjected to competition. In those days 
the man who ploughed and sowed had no 
assurance that he would be allowed to reap 
the harvest. Apparently as soon as mankind 
began to work with the economic law of In- 
creasing Returns, they began to fight competi- 
tion and the people began to long for freedom. 

England would not allow any competition 
from the colonies. The fight in the industrial 
world is to gain control. Do men simply seek 
to control a business in order that they may 
make money from it? Admit that a person's 
wealth is $900,000,000 and the population of 
this country is 90,000,000 people; then if his 
wealth is distributed equally among the people, 
it simply means ten dollars for each person. 
Admit that the people who controlled the 
Chicago wheat market in the spring of 1909, 
cleared $10,000,000; then it meant only a 
fraction more than eleven cents for each person. 

It does not seem reasonable that a cor- 



THE BT0R1 01 I w ELBE \ I I 106 

poration should receive bo much free adver- 
tising al a cost of ten dollar* 
Nor it <l<>es not Beem possible thai the mi 
thai existed in the Bpring of 1909 could i 
been caused al a cost of only 
person. Apparently we must search f< 
one. When mankind divided tl 
by means of Land Lines, it did not increase tin- 
fertility of the soil; it did not affect the 
it did Dot insure better markets; it <li«l abolish 
competition. Bow did abolishing ition 

help the farmer? 

In the economic Law of I 
nil the Labor that nature requires is just 
ficient to gather her Btores. In the economic 
Law of Increasing Returns, man must 
certain amount of Labor before nature 
him any return. This condition will hold 
true for all lines of manufactured artii 
The question now arises, how much labor must 
man invest in order to abtain from nature 
the reward that he desires? This Qecessil 
estimates or calculations. 



106 



THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 



Instead of trying to estimate, let us look 
at some of the conditions that nature imposes. 
When the savage killed the animal he was 
ready to feast. When the farmer sowed his 
seed, he was not ready to harvest. In using 
the land for agriculture, it was necessary to 
remove the forest, thus decreasing the feeding 
places and the shelter of the wild animals. 
This method was continued until the wild 
animals disappeared and the farmer is com- 
pelled to provide in advance so that he can 
live from the time he begins to prepare the 
soil until he reaps his harvest. 

Mathematically speaking, competition is an 
unknown quantity, thus making it impossible 
to arrive at correct conclusions by means of 
calculations. The farmer can live from the 
fruits of his labor, so that it is not necessary 
for him to make close calculations. Gen- 
erally speaking, the manufacturer cannot live 
by consuming his manufactured articels, so 
that it is necessary for him to make the closest 
calculations. Very often a very small fraction 



[ BE STOB1 01 ' H H.l/\ I I l(M 

of :i cent may turn B ' 

to a loss, thus making 

business. In her dealings with the coloi 
England would alio impetition. 

dently Bhe could not control her manu 
in any other manner. 

Nature compels man to n 

principles, one is that if the bu 
continue, the income must be equal I 
greater than the expenses. Bui you 
calculating is \\ bat i- all Hi 

if a manufacturer cannot sell hi 
let him keep it until hi '1 it. 

For the sake of argument, In I tain 

products for a period of twenty (h 
In the beginning let us assume thai w< . 
one hundred barrels of oil; one hundred I 
of coal; ten thousand lumber and one 

hundred miles of railroad. At the end of 
twenty-five years, the oil man will have his oil; 
the coal man will have hi- coal; the lumberman 
may have his lumber, depending upon how- 
he stored and cared for it. What does the 



108 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

railroad man have? Simply two streaks of 
rust; he could not operate his road even if he 
wanted to operate it. 

Evidently the steel man must invest capital 
in order to produce steel, and then reinvest 
the steel in order to get nature to return his 
capital. That is, when a railroad buys rails, 
cars, etc., if the investment is to be a paying 
one, enough paying traffic must pass over the 
rails or through the cars to at least pay the 
cost of manufacture before the rails or cars 
wear out or rust out. Thus we see that nature 
imposes rather severe specifications upon the 
steel people. 

How has the laboring man fared in this 
game of competition? Very often a business 
has been started and continued for some length 
of time and then closed down. The workmen 
become restless, their families are in need, 
yet there is no work because there is no market. 
Investigate every condition and we find it 
true. 

What is the trouble? The usual difficulty 



■I ill 3 P0B1 "i ' lYii.i/.\'i [09 

►o many people engaged in thai particular 
line ■ The workmen and their fan 

may need food and clothe . but the i mpl 
li.i- steel, coal, l< and nature d 

not need th lucta at that particular 

time. 

After the Land was divided, the fanner 
could j< termine in a manner about what In- 
needed to do in order to obtain a In ing from 
the soil. If the colonists were not allowed to 
manufacture, Rngland knew approximately 
aboul what and how many manufactured 
articles she would need to supply. During the 
wheat speculations in the Spring of I 
apparently the distn ot caused by the 

fact that it cost each person about eleven o 
but from the fact that people could not con- 
trol their business. 

But, you say. competition regulates and 

competition controls business. 1 will call 

your attention to one fact. In the spring 
oi L909 one man played the wheat market up 

and down until he was tired of it. then quit 



110 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

and went to Europe. The people on two 
continents scolded; the press thundered and 
the government investigated, but apparently 
there was no way to stop him. That is about 
how much competition regulates and controls 
under existing conditions. 

Since humanity has struggled for centuries 
and apparently have used all known methods 
in order to be free and are still thwarted, does 
it seem that an All-Wise Creator ever intended 
that mankind should be free? Apparently 
man can balance present conditions, but can 
he improve on them? With statute laws com- 
pelling capital and labor to give each to the 
other its due and markets such as it is possible 
to create, thus allowing individuals to control 
their affairs, in their own manner, do we need 
or do we want any more freedom than such 
conditions will give us? Can we not look upon 
the financial workings of corporations much 
as we look upon a railroad train? Practically 
useless unless it can be controlled. A mo- 
ments consideration will show us the heavy 



I III VHM:V 01 I n 11.1/ \ i 111 

thai b corporation musl and 

their income musl be in | a. Any 

uncertainty may mean failure. 

h becoi 
man if he has established :t home and h 
ily, when hi 

and bis WOrl CD him 01 Only 

be furnished employment for a pari of the 
tin!.-, h Like* ise beconu ondition 

for a corporation it th< y have i stablish 
buisness and lal pelled to divide 

it with other corporations that were not 
taken into the original calculations. \V<»ul<l 
not the following method be fait" t<> both 
shipper and carrier ilroad rates? \ 

uniform rate of so much per ton per mile for 
horizontal distance and a differential rate of 
so much per ton for every foot that freight 
musl be raised vertically. That would give 
the engineers a chance t<> determine whether 
a uniform grade or an incline is tin 1 cheaper 
method to pass freight over a mountain. 
Tln^ economic law o( increasing returns ia 



112 THE STORY OP CIVILIZATION 

imposed by nature and man cannot change it. 
The question seems to be how, is mankind to 
regulate their aflairs to best meet the require- 
ments of this economic law? 



(ii \v\ i.i: \i 



( OMI'i ASM ION 



l\ ordi i; to understand tin- question of 
compensation, it will be necessary t<» 
binguish between wealth and capital In the 
arguments advanced in this article, wealth 

will denote the products found or produced 

by nature. Thus, food products, coal, timber, 
gold, silver, etc., will be recognised as wealth. 
Capital we will understand to mean money, 

both gold and silver, hank notes, stocks. 

bonds, mortgages, etc. Thus nature creates 
wealth while man creates capital. 

The governments have fixed standards for 
the measurement oi both wealth and capital. 
In the United states and England, the prin- 
cipal measures for wealth are the pound, 
113 



114 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

bushel and yard; most of the other countries 
use the Metric System. That is, a certain 
distance constitutes a yard or a meter, a 
certain amount of metal constitutes a pound 
or gram; a certain number of cubic inches con- 
stitutes a bushel. These measures are recog- 
nized by law and wealth is measured accord- 
ingly. 

The governments have also established 
standards for capital. In the United States, 
a certain amount of gold that is specified by 
law constitutes a dollar. Other countries 
have specified certain amounts, usually of gold, 
to constitute their standards of capital. Ap- 
parently the original idea in fixing a standard 
was to ascertain how much labor was neces- 
sary to produce a certain amount of gold. 
While gold is probably chemically the most 
stable metal to be found in nature, yet in a 
few instances it does combine chemically with 
other metals or minerals. It also occurs free 
in sand or gravel, and also in rock. The 
amount of labor necessary to collect a certain 






i m; STORY OF < iyii.iz \tio\ I 10 

amount of gold varies between wide lin 
In :i rich Band or gravel, one person might 

colled :i fori unc in :i day, while in :i very 

hard rock where the L r <»M i.- combined *-Ii«-iiii— 

cally, that same pereon might labor for several 

days before he could collect one dollar in gold. 

Going back i" the economic laws, L r <>id must 

fall int.. the law <»f decreasing return-. That 
is, it is a product found in nature and when 

nature's supply i- exhausted, man know 
no way to replenish it. The amount of labor 
necessary to produce a certain amount of 

gold Varies much more than the amount of 
labor necessary to produce a given amount of 

wheat, coin, barley, etc. When manufacturing 

has once been reduced to the economic law of 

decreasing returns, it is not a difficult problem 

to ascertain what labor is worth in terms of 
gold. That 18, it is not a particularly difficult 
problem to ascertain the labor cost o\ mining 

a ton of coal, fabricating steel, and other lines 

o( manufacturing. 

The problem is not so easy however, when 



116 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

we come to measure labor in terms of wheat 
or other food supplies. Since wheat is the 
staple article of food, it becomes a serious 
problem with the working class as to how 
much flour can be bought with a day's work. 
To-day, apparently, wealth and capital assume 
about the following conditions: — The law 
has created standards for both wealth and 
capital but it has created no standard or 
relation between the two. This allows all 
prices to fluctuate. 

The workingman is engaged in producing 
wealth, but gets his pay in capital and in 
turn he must again purchase wealth with his 
capital in the way of clothes and food supplies. 
The purchaser of manufactured articles works 
in just the opposite direction; with capital 
he buys wealth, then he must reinvest this 
wealth in order to regain his capital, and all 
of this work is done without a single standard. 

But, you say, all this has been changed by 
the corporations. The workmen are told 
what to do; they get their pay in an envelope 



THE BTOR1 01 CTI n.l/ \T\ I 17 

and the money comes out of the treasury. 
Who telle the workmen what to do? ^ on 
answer, the foreman. Who telle the f< 
The superintendent ; who tells the od- 

ent? Ihe president. Who tells the pi 
dent? The Board of Directors. Who tells 
the Board of Directors? Who puts the m 
into the treasury? Modern buisness im-th 
have not evaded any of nature'- laws, they 
have only transferred responsibility. 
For gument, lei u 

standard between wealth and capital 

wheat is a product in which the entire popu- 

latioD is interested, it would seem thai wl 

would make a good standard. Let us assume 

that one day's labor is worth two bushels of 
wheat. This quantity i- to remain unchai 
in the discussion. 

By binding wealth and capital together, 
they must rise and fall together. Tim.-, if 

food prices advance, labor advances; or if 

food prices decrease, labor decreases. Such 
an arrangement would not only tend to help 



! 



118 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

hold the market steady, but it would also give 
a basis for calculations. Any employer of 
labor in making estimates would know very 
closely what his labor would cost him. 

Before the matter could be made to work 
smoothly over the entire field, it might be 
necessary to determine other standards. With- 
out analyzing the matter thoroughly, it would 
seem that higher classes of workmen than 
laborers, might have their salaries determined 
by stating the ratio in relation to labor, thus 
one and one-half times, two times, three times, 
etc., of price of labor. The price of other 
products might be quoted in terms of wheat. 
This would cause the industries of the entire 
country to rise and fall together. 

After the matter once becomes thoroughly 
adjusted, it would be a difficult matter to 
change it very much either way. On each 
side of the balance would be two powerful 
forces; the farmers on the one side and the 
working people on the other. If the market 
started to go down the influence of the farmers 



I ill. BT0R1 "I ' l\ n.iz \ i . 119 

would help Bteady it, while if the market took 
i Budden turn upward, the influence of the 
working people would tend to reduce it. 
iwccn the farmers and the workmen would 
be middlemen who would !»<• entitled t<» at 
least b good li\ ing profit. 

Undoubtedly the amount of two bushels 
of wheat per man per day would n<>t be found 
to be correct and was only used for an illus- 
tration. If such an ides ws »usly 
contemplated, undoubtedly the scientific 
quantity would be the amount of wheat one 

man could produce in one day :i!id could only 

be determined by experiment, and using, 
Bay ;i fair average yield of from fifteen to twenty 
bushels per acre. Some people might say 
that such an arrangement would tend to I 
away the liberties given to us by our fore- 
fathers. We must bear in mind that our 
forefathers only gave us political Liberty or 
freedom from man. They did not nor 
could not give us scientific liberty. The 
problems facing this country to-day arc not 



120 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

political, but scientific and we must use 
scientific methods to solve them. 



(II \l'l BR XII 



« 0N< bl BION 



Probably do peraon ever penned ■ truer 
description of modern conditions than th< 
poet, Lowell in the prelude of hi- poem, "Sir 
LaunfaL" 

"Earth asks its price for what earth giv< 
The beggar is taxed for a corner to die in, 
The priest hath his fee who cornea and 

shrives ns. 
We bargain for the gravea we lie in; 
At the devil's booth are all things sold. 

Each ounce of dross costs its ounce of gold; 
For a cap and hells our Uvea we pay, 
Bubbles we buy with a whole souls tasking; 

Tis heaven alone that is given away. 
121 



122 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

'Tis only God may be had for the asking; 
No price is set on the lavish Summer; 
June may be had by the poorest comer." 

As nature persists that we must pay some 
price for the treasures she gives us, it seems 
as though we must study her laws so that 
the price will not be excessive. Men have 
studied her laws for centuries and from time 
to time have given the world certain rules that 
seemed to govern. These rules have been 
handed down to succeeding generations. 

The steam engine, electricity and kindred 
inventions have to-day advanced the civili- 
zation of the world far beyond any civilization 
that historians record. Many rules and meth- 
ods handed down to the present generation 
have proven to be incorrect or to cover only 
a part of the conditions. The ancients seemed 
to believe that there is but one law of nature 
and all things emanated from this law. For 
centuries men have searched for the missing 
link, but they have not found it. For cen- 



nil. BT0R1 01 CTI n. 1/ I I : 

buriefl the earth has produced 
animals that are distinctly diff< rent .1 
mice. Ii us producing the 
animals to-day and the dim pi d 
limply defined. 
But we can beel study nature's laws in the 
table kingdom. In the 
dom at least three oatural l. irply 

defined. First, that in which the pi 
duces seed, then the Btem dies and tin- i 
dies; this law holds true for all I h 
as wheat, oats, corn, etc, I I in 

which the plant produces seed, the Bten 
but the root lives. Thia law 
grasses, clover, timothy, blu 
Third, that in which the stem produ 

but the stem lives ami the root l i x ■ 

law holds true for the larger plants "i 1 
such as i>ak. chestnut, beech, etc. Thia 
should show us conclusively that the lawt 
nature that govern our every day lives are net 
the same, 

The belief that like conditions produce like 



124 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

results seems to cover only a part of the 
natural law. If we plant wheat, we get 
wheat; if we plant corn we get corn; if we plant 
acorns, we get oak trees. In this case, like 
conditions produce like results. But, we will 
plant an orchard of apple trees, pear trees, 
plum trees, peach trees, etc., and plant them 
so closely together that the boughs touch. 
These trees are subjected to the same natural 
conditions of soil, heat, moisture, storms, etc., 
yet the products are entirely different. 

Or, we will go to the animal kingdom and 
place animals of different species in a field, 
where they drink from the same stream and 
procure their food from the same source, yet 
we see one animal producing hair and horns, 
another animal producing wool, and still 
another animal producing feathers. Results 
that are entirely different. Hence the state- 
ment that like conditions produce like results 
is only true under certain circumstances. 

In the King James translation of the Bible 
in Matthew (16-34) we read, "Take therefore 



•i ill "I < i\ ii.i/ n. : 125 

do bhoughl for the morrow: for the morrow 
Bhall lake thought for the things of i - 
Sufficient unto the day is the evil then 
The Bame idea is ex] the 

Bible \\ riters, yei this statement 
true only in part. In clerkships and some 
classes of mining, the Btatemenl is absolutely 
true. A clerk simply transacts the buau 
thai conies id him from day to day. It 
him no good to plan for ilic morrow for be 

knows not what the morrow will bring forth. 

In mining, and especially coal mining, it 
does no good to look ahead and plan what the 
product should be at a certain time, the mining 

man must take his product a> lie find- it. 
faults, refuse and any other obstructions that 
nature has placed in his path. Think and 
plan as he may, he cannot change his product 
by looking ahead. In addition the mining 
men have problems that keep them looking 
ahead and prevents their going to sleep. 

There is another set o\ problems where it 
is absolutely necessary to look ahead or nature 



126 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

gives us no returns. In all classes of agri- 
culture and most lines of manufacturing, 
the person having charge must look ahead, 
or he gets no returns. The farmer must 
spend long days in hard toil in preparing his 
soil, sowing and tending his crop, yet nature 
gives him absolutely no return until the day 
of the harvest. In accordance as he looked 
ahead and planned for the harvest, so will 
nature reward him for his toil on the day of 
the harvest. In manufacturing, especially in 
the manufacture of steel, the manufacturer 
must look ahead, and stand by his furnaces 
through heat and smoke until his task is 
finished or nature gives him absolutely nothing 
in return. Take no thought for the morrow 
is only true in part. 

From the purely scientific problems we 
drift into the social problems. In the Bible 
we read, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, 
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap." As a nation is but a collection of 
individuals, the same law seems to hold true 



i in 3T0RY "i I tVTLXZA I I 

for n;ii ion . A 

be. As we i rain our boj 

ball be tin- men and wom< n o row. 

It is ;i well Known l;i . 

that it" we u i -li i" procure pun 
keep pure the source* from which tfa 
drains. The same law to hold true 

in regard to training young people. It" we 
wish them to grow into right thinking men and 
righl thinking women, the sou m which 

they procure their knowledge musl not be 
polluted. In the world at large we find four 
sources of knowledge that attract the children: 
theatres, literature, moving pictures and pic- 
ture postal cards. In order to be brief, I will 
make but two classes. Theatres and literature 
in one class, moving pictures and picture 

postal cards in the other. In both d. 
there Is much beautiful and useful information 
to be obtained, especially for children, v.t 
there are many things on the stage to-day 
that children should not see and many things 
printed that tn, \ v should not read. The same 



128 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

thing holds true of moving pictures and pic- 
ture postal cards. There are many beautiful 
scenes printed on postal cards and there are 
many scenes printed that are a disgrace to any 
nation. 

You say, "The people should know better 
than to be influenced by these things. The 
parents regulate the actions of their children 
and the police of our cities regulate the other 
things." Older people may know enough not 
to be influenced by these things; children do 
not. The children only see the thing before 
them; their judgment is not sufficiently de- 
veloped to tell whether the things they see 
are good or evil. In most cases, parents do 
regulate the actions of their children, but there 
are many places where parents have not the 
opportunity to investigate; they have not the 
time and often times they have not the in- 
telligence. The police of our cities do regulate 
these affairs as far as they are able; yet if 
people who are engaged in showing or selling 
any of the articles mentioned are driven from 



'i in. BTOBT Of ( IVILiza i ; L29 

one city they .-imply L r <» to another town or 
city. 

Apparently what we need ifl ■ national 
board of censors, one member from i 
state, whose duty it BhaU be to pan upon all 
plays, books, moving pictures and postal 
cards, etc., with power to destroy if they do 
not meet the approval of the aforesaid board. 
Thus assisting the parents and police in pi 

where the influence of the home and the in- 
fluence n[' the city are not felt. 

In the matter of our public schools. \ 
to be violating some of nature's laws. Our 

boya and girls attend the same schools, and 

gO to the same rooms when- in many <. 
they are outside the influence of the home and 
outside 1 the watchfulness ^\ the tea* i 

Hoys are boys and girls are girls; judgment is 
undeveloped and passion rules; the result is 
immorality among the young people, should 

not the boys and girls, especially in our cities. 
be sent to separate rooms or better still, to 
separate buildings. 



130 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

In the matter of teachers, there comes a 
time in every healthy boy's career when in 
his mind the world is only as large as he can 
see and he is the biggest thing in it. At such 
times does he need a man teacher. With 
women teachers it results too often in the hard, 
bitter fights between the boys and the teacher, 
that in many cases drive the boys from school 
or ruin their whole lives. In the case of girls, 
there comes a time in her life when she is 
blossoming into womanhood when certain 
laws of nature are beginning to develop within 
her body, she does not know what they are. 
She is moody, funny, often times fickle in her 
actions and generally hard to handle. Under 
a man teacher these girls are often punished 
unjustly and severely. In many cases the 
girl's life is ruined because the teacher did 
not understand how to handle her. 

Nature's method seems to be men teachers 
for boys and women teachers for girls. You 
say, "Why do they act that way?" Simply 
because certain laws of nature are working 



'I in. BT0B1 "i ' tVILIlATIOM 131 

within their bodies and the boys and 
compelled to follow nature's biddii 

There is -'ill another condition in connection 
with schools that needc a little attention. 
That is night Bchoola. Admitting that the 
instruction is satisfactory and the 
apply themselves industriously. There is still 

a natural coin lit ion that is a Beiiou t ion 

to 1 1 i u. 1 1 1 instruction. Generally, people who 
attend night schools work during the day and 

arc compelled to rise early in the morning. 
If they study industriously until bed time, 
their heads are full of blood and when they 

retire, Very often they cannot sleep until 

long after midnight. When it coin..- tit: 
arise they have not had sufficient sleep. The 

result is that their health is 900D seriously 

affected. Any person who has burned mid- 
night oil will realise the truth of this statement . 

Leaving the schools we will take up the 
working oi the shop from a scientiiic stand- 
point. The world sees two conditions where 

great armies of men are used to accomplish a 



132 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

task. One is an army of war, the other is 
an army of peace. The army of war dealing 
with social problems; the army of peace 
dealing with scientific problems. In an army 
of war, in order to be effective the individuality 
of the men is crushed and the men are massed 
into one large compact unit. 

As an illustration I will cite the troubles 
with foreigners in the anthracite regions of 
Pennsylvania in 1897. In an afternoon a 
sheriff and his deputies had a battle with 
foreigners in which a number of persons were 
killed. During the following night an army 
of soldiers was sent into that region and re- 
mained there for some time. To the best of 
the writer's knowledge those soldiers never 
fired a shot, yet the disturbance quieted and 
the people in that region have remained 
peaceable ever since. Who did the task? 
All the soldiers did it. 

In contrast with the army of war is the army 
of peace. As an illustration, I will cite a 
steel mill, employing ten thousand men. If 



■ 



Tin 01 CIVI1 

those men simply go to thai mill and camp 

there. ihey may Stay Until the day of doom and 

they will never produce an ounce 
If the work of thn-<' men i 
each man must do hu part in producing 
finished product. In an army of war, the 
work of one soldier is no different from the 
work of any other soldier, bo that the whole 
body of men can be welded into one l: i _r : 1 1 1 t i * • 
unit thus crushing the individuality of the 

men. In ;in army ^( peace '.eh individual 

lias a different task to perform and we dan- 
not crush the individuality <-f the man - 
becomes useless. The hardest thing the v. 
ingman of to-day has i<» contend with i> the 

competition of his fellow workmen. To U 

phrase o{ the Bhop, they knife each other. 

You ask. "Why i\o they <\o thi^?'* Simply 
because each workman is afraid his fellow 
workman will get along faster than he does. 

An army of war is trained by its offici 
the methods those officers use ueed not he 

discussed. In an army of peace we have not 



134 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

yet decided what methods we need to use in 
training the men. The method that has been 
handed down to us by our forefathers is the 
apprenticeship system. 

It has so many defects that it is practically 
worthless. One of the conditions to be guarded 
against in an army of war is to see that the 
men do not fight against each other. One 
of the conditions to be guarded against in 
an army of peace is to see that the men do no 
work against each other. 

In order that each workman may retain and 
develop his individuality and his work still 
be effective, apparently what we need in our 
shops to-day is first, a classification of labor. 
This will definitely define the route that the 
workman needs to follow and at the same 
time relieves him of the competition of his 
fellow workmen. If the work is classified, 
the workmen are advanced by individual 
examinations. Try as they may, they cannot 
injure each other. In order to keep the men 
from working against each other, apparently 



•mi '.i CIVIL] 

what we need is an assistant 
The duty of thu at la to instruct the 

workmen so that thej do i 
each other. The foreman ther 

duties that require hi attentions; be ha 
time to instruct the workmen. This Instrw 
in order to be efifectrv e, must be an int < 11 1 
man and he must be well paid; hie 

salary to be paid by the company and p 
p;ii<l by ilif workmen. The workman 
charged a certain amount for instructioi 
that he feels that he hat a right to ask for 
instruction; while at the same time the in- 
structor is responsible to the workman 
part of his salary and lie dare not proceed like 
a little tin irod on a little red wagon. 

The difficulty with our shop work to-day 
is that too often the men are working against 
each other; one man builds up, while another 

tears down what the first man builds. This 

can only be remedied by bringing the whole 
working force under one head. That person 
or head having authority and ability to instruct 



136 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

the workmen if the workmen need it. You 
say that this instructor would not take much 
interest in advancing the men. He does not 
need to. The workman must advance by 
his own efforts; no other person can advance 
him. 

There is still another problem that affects 
the workmen from a scientific standpoint. 
That is work that must be carried on con- 
tinuously both day and night. The usual 
method of such operations is for the men to 
work one week during the day and the follow- 
ing week during the night. This method 
subjects the human body to severe changes, 
and the health breaks down. In order to 
relieve the body from these repeated changes, 
it seems as though the health of the men would 
be better if the changes from day to night or 
from night to day were less frequent; say the 
changes were made once in every three or 
once in every six months. It is an experiment 
that is simple and requires no changes from 
the present order of business. The men simply 



Tin. ST0B1 01 I i\ ii.izvi [ON 

remain on day turn or night turn for a 1"' 
period of time. The w riter took up the 
wit li n Qumber of steel mill men. < )i\<- of tl 
men advanced what seems even a bet I 
He advanced the idea of letting the youi 
men do eight work permanently and the older 
men do day work permanently. As the young- 
er men advance in Life, they in turn will be 

relieved from [light work. The whole q 

lion hinges upon the health and comfort 
the men and practical results can onlj 
obtained by experiment. 

In any aim v. in older that the work I 

effective we must have a body of men whose 
duly it is to direct the combined effort 
the men composing the army. Th< 
in an army of peace are known as officials. 
The selection and advancement of these men 
was taken up a few years ago by some writer 
in a series of articles published in the En- 
gineering Magazine. The two methods ad- 
vanced by this writer was the line organisa- 
tion and the staff organization. In the line 



138 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

organization, the men are advanced step by- 
step from the lowest to the highest positions. 
The idea being that with such an organization, 
the higher officials are always familiar with 
the working of the organization; this knowledge 
being obtained through long years of hard 
toil. The staff organization is to select cer- 
tain men for certain duties and to procure 
these men wherever you happen to find them. 
From a scientific standpoint, both -methods 
are so seriously defective as to make them 
practically useless. In the line organization, 
sooner or later some man will get into the 
line who has not the intelligence, the energy 
or the ambition to advance. Eventually, the 
whole working force is reduced to the level 
of this incompetent man. It is useless to 
place intelligent men under him, for he will 
not allow them to advance; he literally kills 
them. In the staff organization, it immedi- 
ately leads to disorganization. That idea was 
tried in the early days of a large corporation. 
The men found it out and they left that 



i ill. i OBI "i CI1 [LIZA I 

company like rate from a drowning ship. 

Bui you Bay, "The new men will l 

about this Btate of affairs and th< y w 111 

loyal." Experience proved otherwise. I In 

new men Boon found out what ■- 

and they did not know .-it what u 

new man would be advanced over 

The entire Unci- of that company iply 

demoralised. The men could not 

would not work; and the officials of l 

company could not make them w 01 k. 

patently, do We not need, for tic- : 

of officials, ;i method similar to our 
service examinations? Then let I man 

win. 

In relation to our agricultured and manu- 
facturing Interests comes the relation of bud- 
ply and demand. Is supply and demand a 
natural law or is it only :i condition'.' Natural 
laws are from everlasting to ev< and 

try as we may. we cannot break them down. 
Supply and demand immediately break down 
into over production and under consumption. 



140 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

Therefore supply and demand is not a natural 
law; it is only a condition. Trade is regu- 
lated by natural laws. Supply and demand is 
not a natural law, hence it does not regulate 
trade any more than a thermometer regulates 
the weather. Supply and demand simply 
measures trade. 

There is still another condition in regard to 
corporations that requires some attention. 
That in regard to statute law. There is an 
idea advanced by the French of letting the 
trades people and manufacturing people man- 
age their own affairs and practically make 
their own laws. This idea works very well 
where the manufacturer conducts a complete 
business and must either live or die from the 
results of that business. Such a manufacturer 
gets no salary except the profits from his 
business. If he does not conduct his business 
on business principles, his losses will soon com- 
pel him to seek other lines of employment. 
To use a common phrase, 'he goes down and 
out.' The working of the idea of letting alone 



i ill. WORT OF I n II. IZ \ i I 111 

ean be readily followed by taking into con- 
sideration the business <»f the small 
Bhoemaker, bailor, etc. These people gel :tll 
lli«' profits from their 1.'. like- 

wise must stand all tin- Losses of their bush 

In the working of B 'ion. tin 

letting :il«'ii-' i- utterly 1 mm the 

president to the lowest office boy, the empl 
of a corporation work on nnlnrim II 

it does not affect them one way OF another 

whether the business is conducted at i p 

or a I' 

Labor and finance go hand in hand; each i- 
useless without the other. Often times we 
wonder why such tremendous energy i- 
to complete large undertakings. We will i 
understand this part ^'> the transaction until 

we Study the financial side of the situation and 
the natural law that governs finance. The 
natural law that governs finance is the law 
that reverses and the question that the finan- 
cier must consider is at what point he must 
make that law reverse. Like all other natural 



142 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

laws, this law varies. In the case of all agri- 
cultural undertakings, the law changes on 
the day of the harvest. Previous to the day 
of the harvest all was expense; after the day 
of the harvest, all the expense connected with 
the undertaking is the caring of the crop. In 
this phase of the law, the time is fixed by nature 
and cannot be changed by man. In the case 
of business and manufacturing, the day that 
the tide turns can be regulated by man. It 
then becomes a question of economy. The 
financier must decide which is the cheaper 
method to pursue; whether it is more economi- 
cal to employ ten thousand men for one month 
to complete a task or whether it is more 
economical to employ one thousand men for 
ten months to complete the same task. 

The tariff question must be considered as a 
financial question and the time for the turning 
of the tide is at hand. We have reached a 
point in our national career when our popu- 
lation consumes our food products and the 
prices of our labor is so high that other nations 



•i 111. BTOIH 01 l n ii.iz \ i I ii:; 

can undersell ua in the □ orid. 

Another phase of the financial problen 
the time when the tide will turn. In the 
table kingdom it may be but 

or it 
im:i\ be afl 1< ae third 

aho^ n in the «>li\ i-"ii 

reaps the fruil of the grandfathei 'a plant 
The industry is only perpetuated by i 
generation planting a grove. In the 
world, produce may be bought and sold within 
a few houra and the transaction < 1 
Or, ii may extend to a remote period. Many 
of the coal companies recently formed have 
bought large acr coal land and paid 

high price- for it. Much of this coal will not 
be mined for the uext fifty years. The capital 
is locked up absolutely where nature gives 
absolutely do return. 

Another financial condition that ia coming 
to the front is thai of free roads and free 
bridges. Many roads and bridges are being 
built from the sale o[ state, county or municipal 



144 THE STORY OP CIVILIZATION 

bonds. Many of these bonds will not mature 
until long after most of the present generation 
are in their graves. A good stone road under 
heavy traffic will last for about five years. 
If these roads have been built by issuing bonds 
and have been free to the use of the public 
during the life of the road after the road is 
worn out, how is the road to be rebuilt, and the 
interest and principle on the bonds met? 
If we issue more bonds to rebuild the road, the 
plot simply thickens. The same condition 
is true of bridges. The whole thing sums 
itself up into a condition where improvements 
are made by issuing bonds and the improve- 
ments wear out before the bonds mature. 

We will leave the financial side of our every 
day life and turn to the failure of some of our 
engineering structures. Of the many failures 
we have had in recent years, I will note but 
two; the explosion in the Marianna Mine and 
the fall of the Quebec Bridge. Both of these 
accidents were caused by a violation of some 
natural law; neither was caused by careless- 



'i m. 9T0B1 01 ' iviliz\ i I 14.) 

ncss. The world will probably never know 
exactly what caused the explosion in the 
Marianns Mine. All thai money and I i 
could do to make this mine :i model mine 
for the safely, health and comfort <>f the men 
employed had been done. Vet, for some un- 
known reason .-in explosion came in an instant 
thai hurled the entire world] in that 

mine into eternity. The working force in the 
mine at the time of the explosion was about 

one hundred and fifty nun. 

After the fall «»f the Quebec Bridge, the 
writer compared the accounts of that dn 
as reported in the [engineering New.-; The 
Engineering Record and th<' Scientific Ameri- 
can, These reports agreed on three facte 
First, the members .V.»K and A9L were both 
bent S shape; eight of the twelve anchor bolts 
Were pulled out; the other four were raised and 
sheared off. Excepting one eye-bar that was 
probably broken by some missile, the top 
chord was not broken. If we are ever to know 
what caused the failure of tin 1 Quebec Bridge, 



146 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

it must be determined from these three facts, 
as the remainder of the wreck was simply a 
mass of twisted steel. 

From actual experiment we know that in 
order to bend a member S shape, the stress 
must be applied along the longitudinal axis 
of the member; if the stress is applied at an 
angle to the longitudinal axis, the member 
will be bent V shape. From this we know that 
the stress that threw the Quebec Bridge acted 
in the longitudinal direction of the bridge. 

Part of the anchor bolts were pulled out and 
part were raised and sheared off. From this 
fact we know that the stress that threw the 
bridge, acted to the bottom of the anchor 
bolts. Which way did that stress come? 
Did it come from the shore toward the river 
or did it come from the river toward the shore? 
If it came from the shore toward the river, then 
the top chord must be broken to allow the 
members A9R and A9L to bend. The struc- 
ture was too rigid, those two members simply 
could not bend until something gave way. 






IIII. STl IVIUZATInV 147 

The top chord was not broken, -■• il 
thai threw the bridge did not come from the 
shore toward the river, Since tin- stress 
acted in the longitudinal direction of the 
bridge, there is bul one other direction from 
which it could come; tfa that threw 

the Quebec Bridge into the St. Lawrence 

River came from the river toward til 

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link; 
a bridge is qo stronger than its « 
there it fails first. Where was the weal 
part in the Quebec Bridge? since tfa 
came from the river toward the shore, it came 
to the anchorage before it came to the mem- 
bers MSB and .v.d.. Something had to give 
way in the structure before those two members 
could bend; after the two members were bent 

the structure could not pull its anchor 
the anchor holts would bind in their Bettll 

since tin* members MSB and A9L could not 
bend until something gave way in the bri 

and the anchorage could not be pulled after 
the members bent, there is but one con- 



148 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

elusion: the anchorage in the Quebec Bridge 
gave way before the members A9R and A9L 
bent. The anchorage was the weakest part. 

If we stopped at this point, it would seem 
that the conclusion reached is almost an im- 
possibility. In order to clear the mystery, we 
must go a little farther. On the end of the 
long lever arm was a lot of heavy apparatus 
used for erecting the bridge. In addition to 
this; at the time of the disaster, a railroad 
engine was placing cars loaded with material 
for the bridge far out on the suspended lever 
arm. The combined action of this stress 
pulled the perpendicular through the center 
of gravity of the bridge so that it fell without 
the base; thus pulling the anchorage and the 
bridge went down like a card house. 

Could Oliver Wendell Holmes have looked 
into the future for the end of his Wonderful 
One Hoss Shay, he could not have found a 
more fitting subject than the fall of the Quebec 
Bridge. "All at once and nothing first." 
In all that sad disaster of damaged repu- 



Tin. STOR1 01 CI\ n.i/\ i I I l f ) 

(at ions, damaged pocket books and ponied 
brains, no other person mora sym- 

pathy than the gray haired man who. through 
a life time of the hardest toil known to man- 
kind, built a reputation that carried him to 
the very pinnacle of his profession and lost 
that reputation in fifteen seconds. 
The two accidents mentioned are but 

typical of many that mighl be named, and 
simply call to mind the conditions that sur- 
round our workinnmen in their every day life. 
The mere fact that we i\o not intend to violate 
nature's laws does not excuse us. What 
seems to be some trifling incident may often 
times cause wide spread disaster. Even bo 
small an error as defective workmanship in 

a bolt may wreck a train. 

In order that men may grapple successfully 

with the laws oi nature, those men must be 
intelligent and educated. The service rend- 
ered by the workingman of to-day must be 

an individual service, BO he must likewise 
have individual protection. Historians tell us 



150 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

that the Romans erected no less than four 
hundred and twenty-seven temples to as many 
different gods and then for fear they had 
missed one who in his wrath would come and 
slay them, they erected a temple to the un- 
known god. Did those Romans erect those 
temples because they were vain and boastful, 
or was it because fear gripped at the heart of 
the Roman Empire? What causes the strife 
in the world to-day? Is it because we have not 
the facilities or intelligence to grapple with 
modern conditions, or is it because every one 
is afraid of every one else. 

On account of the deceit and treachery of 
mankind, the employers liability law is forever 
out of the question. The workman can be 
relieved from the competition of his fellow 
workman by legislation, but legislation can 
never give the workman the skill or intelligence 
to grapple with modern conditions. Social 
problems can be corrected by legislation. 
Scientific problems cannot be corrected by 
legislation. To show the difference between 



I III. ISTOin OK < l\ ILIZA'J ION 



L51 



a social and a scientific problem, suppo 
on owned a field over which peopL 

;inini;il- traveled and in which •_'!<.. fl lol 

noxious weeds. l-> tip i<»n, 

muscle <>r powder be may pn vent i" 
(»i- animals from traveling over bis field, but 
if he wishea t<> be free of the he must 

use different methods in hi- \ 

The workingman of to-day is confronted 
by both social and scientific problems. Some 
of the social problems and all of the bc* otitic 
problems he must solve for himself. B 
the social problems hie fellow beings can solve 
for him. 

It seems that one of the at passions 

of life is the cart 1 of the parent for ite offspi 
The dumb brute mother will fight to the death 
to protect her young. Injured men hovering 
between life and death think not iA their 
injuries but oi their wives and children. 
Labor Leaden like John Mitchell and others 

of his character tell us that they are not fighting 

BO much for themselves as they are to . 



152 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

their children better conditions than the con- 
ditions that exist to-day. 

We are all human and know the thoughts 
of the human mind. Without going into de- 
tails, I am going to again appeal to the wealthy 
people of this country for a fund, the income 
to be used to support the widows and orphans 
of the men who lose their lives in the employ 
of corporations. Wealthy people give vast 
sums of money to their children, thinking that 
they are giving those children ease, comfort 
and luxury, but in reality are they giving their 
children ease, comfort and luxury or are they 
giving them hell fire and damnation? 

Money breeds tyrants and the wealth of 
parents throw the children open to the attacks 
of the hell hounds of the earth. Men and 
women whose one object in life is money 
and they don't care how they get it. Wealth 
brings about a condition where snares are set 
for the feet of the young men and women 
are rated like horses in the market. 

The strongest desire of man is to be re- 



TBI STORY Of CTVTLUATIOBi 153 



membered after- death baa taken him from 
earth, Men have built tombs of imposing 
proportions, memorial bufldingB, and balk of 
fame to perpetuate the memory of oth 
Yet , those names that live longi hose 

that live in the human heart. 1 1< lj > I 
lifih a fund to protect the widows and orphans 
of the workingmen and the workingmen are 
your Btrongest protectors, while their off- 
spring will form a living monument, 
than tombs, buildings or halls of fame. The 
whole thing seems to sum up to about this 

condition: — What is the easiest route through 
life? How much will nature give US in return 
for our work and when will she give it to ua? 
Probably the next step in the advancement 
of civilization will be the harm - tin- 

tides of the ocean. On the American continent 
such a step will allow us to build our trunk 
line railroads along the coast and probably 
refine iron and steel by means of electricity, 
thus saving our fuel supply. Hut. there is 



154 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

even a greater problem, that concerns Europe 
more than it does America. Harness the force 
of the tides to the dynamos that we already 
know how to construct, pump water from the 
Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea 
and irrigate the Sahara Desert, a gigantic 
task but not an impossible one. Here is a 
vast acreage that annually will produce 
enough to feed the entire population of Europe, 
all that it needs is water. 

We will leave the works of man and turn to 
man himself. The Psalmist says, "What is 
man that Thou art mindful of him; or the son 
of man that Thou visitest him?" By observa- 
tion we see that the products of nature that 
sustain life in man will also sustain life in the 
lower animals. Most of the grains or fruits 
will sustain life in either man or beast. This 
shows a natural relation between man and 
beast and places man in the animal kingdom. 
If we make a careful comparison, we find many 
similarities existing between man and the 
lower animals. Men build homes; birds build 






THE 3TOIO Of < i\ ii.i/a j [ON 



I.-,:, 



Men build dams; bo do beavers build 
dams. Men provide means t<> sustain life 
during periods <>f inactivity, bees iill their 
combs with honey; squirrels fill their bum 

with mil.-. 

In man there is an indeeci ibal >L something 
that makes two distinct parts of him; 

call the one pari body, the other part bouI. 

That indeseribable something that ma 

distinct parts run.- all through the animal 

kingdom. Even the bug, the bee or the v. 

BhoWfl these two parts. Where then, ha- man 

elevated himself above the brut tion? 

Apparently man has elevated himself a 
the brute creation at simply tun point-; 
marriage and religion. The subject "i marrj 
is sufficiently understood that it needs no 
discussion. We know that there is a Band 
mightier than the hand o\ man that rules the 

universe and we believe there is a hereafter. 
Religion is really net an engineering subject. 

Perhaps it is wiser to let the ministers discuss 
that subject. 



156 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

Lastly, we will leave man and his works 
and take up the problem of life. Undoubtedly 
the origin of life is a chemical compound. 
Yet, so delicate is the process and so thoroughly 
has nature guarded her secret that an All-Wise 
Creator probably never intended that man 
should discover the process. Like all natural 
laws, the span of life varies. It may be as 
short as that of the mushroom that develops 
in a single night, or it may be as long as that 
of the giant redwoods in the forests of Cali- 
fornia. A tree forms a ring around its trunk 
every year of its life. By counting the rings 
we find these trees dating to a very remote 
period. They were good sized saplings when 
Ruth the Moabites gleaned in the field of 
Boaz. They were good sized trees when the 
Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon; and 
they were giant forests at the beginning of the 
Christian era. Many of these trees bid fair 
to remain for centuries to come, unless des- 
troyed by lumbermen. 

The seed is laid in the soil and comes forth, 



I HE 9TOB1 01 ' i\ ii.f/.a i : 15* 

a living thing. The seed is gone, yel if is not 
dead bul it is risen. Philoeophi dug 

deep into nature'fl laws in search of life; mathe- 
maticians have figured life; poets b 
of life, Those who seem to strike the i 
sympathetic chords of our nature- are the 
poets. Two that seem to come nearest the 
truth are Jean [ngelow and Charles If. Dicken- 
son. Jean [ngekw says: — 

"l wait for my Btory — the birds cannot 

.t. 
Not oik" as he sits on the tree; 
The bells cannot ring it. but long 3 
Oh, bring it I 

Such as I wish it to In-." 

Charles M. Dickenson says: — 

"I ask not a Life for the dear one-. 
All radiant, as others have done; 
But that life may have just enough shadow 
To temper the glare of the Sun." 



158 THE STORY OF CIVILIZATION 

People who are interested in this question 
will find a discussion of the social and business 
conditions in the writer's book on Capital and 
Labor of which this volume is but a companion. 
There, will be found a solution that when put 
into force will do much to settle the capital 
and labor problems. 



THE END 



NOV 12 1912 



